From the moment she looked out the door, Ingrid was berating herself for not checking for life outside. Four guards rushed by and saw them. She decided that she could lament her screw-up later.
“The prisoners! They’re esca–!”
Shouting turned to screams as blinding light engulfed all four guards. Ingrid reflexively covered her eyes. She could feel the magical heat in front of her. Red light shone through the blood vessels of her eyelids. The light here felt different from the gentle glow of the orbs in the undercity of Baile Stioballan. Those had been like a gentle sunny day. This light was angry, beating down on her and threatening to burn her skin. By the time the screaming stopped, it had only been a few seconds, but it felt far longer.
She cautiously opened her eyes, taking a moment for them to readjust to the dark. Her stomach lurched. Where the four guards had been standing were now four charred bodies, writhing in pain and clearly reaching out for help that wouldn’t come.
As she stood there struggling to process what was in front of her, Natalia brushed past, magical light still fading from her hand.
“They were running in that direction. Let’s go,” She commanded.
“So much for keeping a low profile,” Alice grumbled, looking at Ingrid. “You good?”
Ingrid quickly shook off her thoughts. It was just like last time, she had to bottle them for a moment, then let them out afterwards. She gave an appreciative nod. “Yeah, sorry, just shaken up a little by that,” she admitted.
She nodded. “Makes my eyes fuckin hurt quite honestly,” She muttered in annoyance, “Tell you what, you and her should be good to meet with Kallen. I’m gonna go look for our stuff, sound good?”
“Wait, you’re going alone?” Ingrid asked, worry apparent in her voice. She placed a hand on Alice’s. “Shouldn’t we be sticking together? We’re already a tiny group, would splitting up even further really be a good idea?”
Alice bit her lip. “Feathers will be able to keep you safe, and she draws a ton of attention. No way I’d be able to find shit with her following me around,” she explained. She put her other hand on Ingrid’s. “I hate to stick you with babysitting duty, but it’s also probably a hell of a lot safer than what I’m gonna be doing.”
Ingrid wanted to say something, literally anything to get her to stay with her and Natalia. Didn’t she know how worried these little excursions made her? It felt like a kick to the stomach as Alice rushed off without waiting for an answer.
Right, she’s still mad at me, Ingrid thought to herself, grimacing. It hadn’t nearly been long enough for the woman to get over everything that had happened. Of course she needed to get away.
“Are you going to pay attention or not?” Natalia shouted, grabbing the neck of an archer that was taking aim at Ingrid and sending waves of searing light into them until they stopped screaming. The illian glared at Ingrid as she dropped the now corpse of the dark elf.
Ingrid shook her head once again and dashed after Natalia to catch up. Even in her malnourished and exhausted state, seeing the tall woman marching through the camp with her wings folded behind her and an angry radiance in her eyes was something to behold. Ingrid found herself not having to do much as they carved a path through.
The next group they came across was three strong, each armed and seeming ready for a fight. They didn’t even have a chance to shout a battle cry or take a step forward before Natalia held out her hand and flicked her fingers upward. The trio was engulfed in a pillar of light so intense it almost felt like fire. While she couldn’t look directly at it, the light itself seemed to flicker and dance like flames, and it was just as deadly, if not more. Ingrid began wondering how the group had even managed to capture Natalia in the first place.
The lessons she had been taught about sorcerers and their capability for sheer destruction with their magic were playing out in front of her very eyes. There was a disconnect with what she was taught and what she saw though. She had been told that lumikinesis was predominantly healing magic. How did Natalia manage to channel magic into something that contradicted itself so greatly? Could Mattias do the same with umbrakinesis? Ingrid quickly banished the intrusive thought. The idea of Mattias doing something so destructive made her sick to her stomach.
“Do you have any qualms with this camp being destroyed?” Natalia asked. It took Ingrid by surprise with how casually she asked, like it was some task as simple as brushing her teeth or eating.
“Um, I’m not quite sure,” she stammered, “How would we even go about doing that?”
Natalia said nothing, only turning to a row of tents and spreading her wings. As she did so, her feathers began to glow with that same dangerous light that she had used on the guards. Beams of magical energy shot from her wings and struck the tents. Within seconds, the night was lit up by an inferno consuming the camp.
Ingrid’s jaw dropped as Natalia folded her wings back in and continued walking. It took a moment for Ingrid to continue behind her.
“If it’s alright for me to ask, why aren’t you flying?” Ingrid asked. It felt strange to ask such a mundane question when they were supposed to be escaping, but she allowed her curiosity to get the better of her.
“Archers,” The woman said plainly. “Believe it or not, what the infantry here lacks in skill, it’s more than made up for by their bowmen. The first time I fought them, I was shot out of the sky before I could do much damage to them. I won’t be making that same mistake again.”
“Well, dark elves have trouble seeing if it’s too bright. What if you made yourself glow as much as you could? That way, they would have more trouble hitting you,” She suggested.
Natalia gave her a surprised look, then brought a hand to her chin. She was quiet for a moment as she thought about it before facing forward again. “That could work. I don’t know if now is the time to try it, but I hadn’t thought about that before.”
Ingrid nodded anxiously. Even when being praised it felt hard to talk to her. Everything about her just felt far too intense for her liking. Alice and Kallen both had their aloofness that made it easy to approach them and be around them, and Malori was a complete sweetheart. So far she had seen no emotion from Natalia other than annoyance or anger.
“Um, we should probably move a little faster,” She suggested weakly, “Th-that’s not to say you’re slow! I just mean that the sooner we’re out of here, the better, right?”
Natalia said nothing, but she did begin to actually speed up, earning a sigh of relief from Ingrid. The walking pace slowly escalated to a speed walk, and before long they were running through the camp to make their way out. A commotion could be heard up ahead, the shouting of soldiers and clanging of metal mixing with the din of the raging fire.
As Ingrid and Natalia ran into the clearing, they were greeted with the grisly sight of almost a dozen bodies. At the center of them was a tall, muscular human woman covered in wounds and swinging a glaive around with so much force that she cut the nearest dark elf clean in two. Despite the horrible sight, Ingrid felt relief wash over her as Kallen fought against her attackers. It had only been a few minutes since she put the gaping hole in the wall behind her, so luckily it seemed like she hadn’t met much resistance yet. However, one woman could only take on so many people at once. Gashes were clearly visible, scattered across her body, and her clothes were torn and covered in blood. Ingrid was fairly certain most of it wasn’t hers.
The nimble human was a blur of movement as she ducked under an axe swing, dashing in the middle of three soldiers. She jabbed the butt of her glaive into one’s side before shoving it forward into the chest of another. Then, bringing up the shaft to block another swing of the axe, she spun the glaive around her, cutting the second soldier in half and lodging the blade halfway through the axe wielder’s abdomen. The blade sliced through his leather armor like it was paper.
Four more guards sprinted at her at full speed, brandishing swords. Using the reach of her glaive, she flicked it out like a snake’s tongue, stabbing one and bringing it back in time to cut down another. The remaining two tried to attack her, but she easily stepped out of the way of one sword and blocked the other. Kicking one in the knee hard enough that a sickening crunch was heard, followed by a scream, she knocked the second’s blade off balance and separated his head from his shoulders. She didn’t leave the first to wallow in pain for much longer as she silenced their scream with one quick, clean strike. Seeing that things were clear for the moment, Ingrid rushed over to her.
Kallen took a breath, then wiped away some of the blood coming from a wound above her eye. Her face was caked with dirt and blood, but she somehow still managed to have that same whimsical smile that she always did. Noticing Ingrid, she became visibly more excited and waved to her.
“Oh good, you’re alright! Malori was worried. She’s hiding right there by the way,” She said happily, pointing at a pile of wooden debris from the wall. Sure enough, a small head with long white hair poked out from behind it, giving an anxious wave.
Ingrid couldn’t help but smile as she saw the esper. “I’m so glad you two are okay. Well, relatively,” She grimaced, looking over Kallen. “I don’t think druidic healing will be able to do very much on the fly. Are you alright to keep going?”
“Yeah! Definitely, this is all superficial anyway. Oh, that’s not supposed to be in there,” Kallen said nonchalantly as she grabbed a crossbow bolt in her thigh and yanked it out before tossing it aside. She looked over to Natalia, and actually seemed surprised for once. “Oh man, you’re taller than I thought you’d be.”
“If that’s a disappointment then you’ll be waiting a long time for an apology,” The woman grumbled. “And I take it you’re this Kallen I’ve heard so much about?”
“Yup, only good things I hope!”
Natalia gave Ingrid an almost irritated look, then sighed. “Call me Natalia. Let’s get out of here before they rush us in force.”
“Wait!” Ingrid exclaimed, “We’re still waiting for Alice!”
“W-What? Where did she g-go?” Malori’s brow furrowed with concern as she stepped out from the rubble.
“She said she was going to look for our gear when we got out, I haven’t seen her since!”
“Well your friend should hurry up before we leave her behind.”
“Oh my, you broke out of your cuffs and chains, but I see you didn’t feel it necessary to pull the stick out of your ass!” A cheerful, masculine voice called from behind the group.
Kallen immediately dropped back into a battle stance as Ingrid and Natalia whirled around, Natalia’s hands already glowing with her magical radiance. Casually approaching the four of them was a smiling, shirtless Berith. His tattoos of dragons and reddish pink flowers seeming to almost dance in the firelight. At his side was Alviss, who had a dagger in each hand. Ingrid found herself breathing a small sigh of relief at the fact that Alice wasn’t with them.
Berith looked around at the dead and wounded forms of his soldiers, tutting in disappointment. “You need a job done, you really do have to send Alviss to do it. Or do it yourself. Usually I send Alviss.”
Ingrid gulped and took a step back, clutching the spear that she knew didn’t have any of the magical channeling abilities that her staff had. A shiver ran down her spine as Berith grinned at her.
“Well, I don’t suppose this is your answer? Please, I can take a hint,” He chuckled mockingly, as if he had just been rejected after asking her out on a date. He held his arms out. “Shame really, it was a good deal. Unfortunately for both of us, I will have to respond to you killing my soldiers.”
“Hey, they attacked us first!” Kallen called out, spinning her glaive and getting ready to charge.
He raised an eyebrow. “So you’re that absurdly strong human I’ve heard so much about. I hope you don’t mind, but I think I’d like to run a few tests on you. Tell you what, the esper can even join in! It’ll be a little team bonding exercise!” He offered happily.
“By the time we’re done, there won’t even be ashes left of you,” Natalia growled, her feathers sticking up in anticipation.
“Oh come on, you know damn well how that ended last time,” He groaned, rolling his eyes. His smile quickly returned however. “Alviss, make sure that their dark elf friend doesn’t interfere, wherever she is. I’m going to have some fun with this.”
Ingrid squinted as he stepped forward. At first, she was sure that it was a trick of the light, but her heart sank as she realized that it was no illusion. The thick black outlines of his tattoos began to shift, then bubble. It was like liquid on the outer layer of his body rather than injected. The ink began to shift faster, until it actually moved around his body. The defined scales and petals of the designs faded away, reverting to an angry pink mass on his skin. Burn scars. They covered the entire right side of his torso, drifting up his neck and onto his right cheek.
As concerning as noticing that was, her eyes quickly returned to the moving ink. It traveled like rushing water up his body, to his shoulders, and coursing down his arms to his hands. The ink coalesced at his fingertips and up his forearms until from the elbow down, his arms looked as though they were covered in metal gauntlets with spikes running down the outer side of them. The ink still bubbled and rolled, like the shifting shadows that Mattias would sometimes manipulate. The tips of his fingers became pointed, seeming more like claws of a beast than humanoid fingers. He widened his feet along with his smile as he got into a battle stance.
Ingrid looked frantically to her companions. Malori was terrified as usual. Kallen was unfazed. Natalia grit her teeth tight enough to crack them. A bead of sweat dripped down her forehead as the glow of her hands intensified. It was the closest thing to concern she’d seen her express. Perhaps Malori’s reaction was the reasonable one.
Anticipation and dread built in silence and glares.
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Then Kallen charged.
Natalia raised her hand, roaring in anger as another pillar of radiant fire exploded from the ground. The magic that had almost instantly incinerated multiple people only minutes ago scorched nothing but the ground as Berith dodged it like it was a blow from any ordinary weapon. Utterly unbothered by Natalia’s magic, he surged forward where he and Kallen collided. With a leap into the air, she brought her glaive thundering down towards him.
He giggled as the sound of clashing metal rang out through the night, drowning out even the fire’s roar. Ingrid’s heart sank. Berith stood there, holding the blade of Kallen’s glaive between his middle and ring fingers. He smiled.
“A wonderful blade you have there,” He mused as he gripped it and yanked forward. It took Kallen by surprise, giving him a chance to spin around and elbow her in the stomach, blood dripping from the rear spike on his gauntlet as he did. He neglected a follow-up and lept back to avoid having his skull pierced by a beam of light, courtesy of Natalia. Glancing between Kallen and Natalia, he chose Kallen, sliding on his knees to duck under another swing. He raised his spiked fist and slammed it into her stomach, blood splashing out from the point of contact. This time he followed through, sending her flying into a pile of wooden debris.
Not forgetting his other opponent, he raised his arms, and in a moment of seeming insanity, took Natalia’s light head-on. The light refracted and split around his gauntlets, destroying a pair of tents behind him, but leaving him completely unharmed. And to Ingrid’s mounting horror, throughout all of it he charged forward towards them.
“Shit!” Natalia exclaimed. She spread her wings with a violent woosh, bent her knees, and leapt backwards into the air. Berith’s giggles turned to gleeful laughter more dangerous than the blaze that consumed their surroundings. He grabbed two spears from the ground and, without breaking his stride, threw them both. With a powerful flap of her wings, Natalia swung out of the way of one and blasted the other with a beam of light intense enough to reduce it to dust.
Black ooze began to pool and form into spiked greaves around Berith’s calves not unlike his gauntlets. He launched himself into the air to meet Natalia. She managed to bring up her arms to block his kick, grunting in pain as the spikes dug into her forearms. The force sent her flying downwards, crashing into a burning tent. Ingrid opened her mouth, but only a weak rasping noise came out as she watched the man dispatch two of her comrades. A rush of wind blew by her as something shot past.
“Hm? Oh, hello again!” Berith chimed, catching the blade of Kallen’s glaive once again. The woman growled, using the force of the strike and rigidity of his arm to leap over him. She grabbed his head in midair, gritting her teeth through the pain as he grabbed her arm with his other hand, digging the sharp claws of his gauntlets into her forearm. She came down, smashing his head into the dirt as she did so with a loud slam. She jumped back just as the ground around her began glowing, and a pillar of light erupted from the earth. Ingrid felt a bit of hope as she saw the pillar as well as Natalia stepping forward from where she had landed. A few of her feathers were singed, and she was panting heavily. Some wooden debris stuck out from her side that she promptly tore out with her free hand. Did they manage to get him?
Her hopes withered as quickly as they grew as the dark form of Berith shot out of the pillar, shoulder checking Kallen and sending her skidding across the ground. Despite his smile, his skin had a slight reddish tint to it, burned from the magical radiance. Natalia roared with anger as she brought a hand crashing down and with it, another pillar of light. Berith rolled out of the way of three different pillars. By the third, he had two throwing knives in his hand and tossed them both. Natalia managed to dodge one, but the other slammed into the middle of her left wing, staining the white feathers crimson. As she nursed her newly injured wing, Berith rushed to the prone form of Kallen. Seeing him coming, she rolled out of the way right as his fist came down. She tried to sweep his legs out from under him, but he noticed and caught her leg with a quick kick. She then swung her glaive forward, trying to catch him in the neck.
“Trying that one again are we?” He laughed as he again caught the blade.
Kallen grinned as he got a solid grip on it. Wrenching herself up by the shaft of the glaive, she slammed her fist into his side. Even in the low light, Ingrid could make out Berith’s face contorting with pain as the single strike sent him flying. His body slammed into the rock face, a spiderweb pattern cracking into the stone behind him. He groaned in pain, rubbing his side.
“Holy shit, you’ve got quite an arm on you huh?” He said, sounding almost in awe of her.
Kallen shrugged as she readied her glaive, panting and wiping some of the blood off her face. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
“What can I say? You don’t get far in my line of work if you can’t dish out some punishment,” he laughed, rolling his shoulder. He quickly stepped to the side as a beam of light struck the stone. It remained for a moment before fading, leaving molten rock dripping from the wall. “Well excuse me, I’m trying to have a pleasant conversation! Didn’t your parents teach you manners?”
Natalia’s shoulders heaved with exertion as she lowered her arm. Her left wing was folded back, shaking slightly from the pain. “Yes, and I’m trying to kill you. Would you stop moving around like a fucking mosquito? You’re just as annoying too.”
Holding her hands out to her sides, two shining disks of light formed that she hurled at Berith. Rolling his eyes, he rolled under one while the other went wide.
“Your aim is slipping!” He teased as he rushed forward. Kallen’s glaive swung in front of him, but didn’t manage to connect as he nimbly dove over it, landing in a roll and continuing his dash for Natalia. She tried to form another spell, but it wasn’t ready in time as a spiked fist was forced into her stomach. Before she could even clutch her abdomen in pain, another strike came thundering across her face, knocking her to the ground.
Berith brought up his boot and thrust it directly down towards the woman’s head, but it was quickly stopped by the blade of a glaive. Kallen tried to bring it up quickly to throw him off balance, but he deftly backflipped off of it and rushed towards her.
Kallen and Berith continued to exchange blows as Natalia lay on the ground, coughing up blood and groaning. The two of them were a blur of movement, both swinging their fists and weapons so fast that Ingrid could barely follow them. She knew she was inexperienced compared to people like Natalia, Kallen, and Alice, but watching those two fight Berith hammered deep into her soul just how big that gap was. It was hard to even hear herself think over the deafening sound of steel clashing with whatever material Berith’s ink was mimicking.
She cursed herself for being so useless. Kallen and Natalia were experienced fighters, and she could barely hold her own against a few mooks with normal weapons. Where was she even supposed to step in here? The fight had barely gone on for more than twenty seconds, and it was hard enough to even tell what was happening. She looked back at Malori, who seemed just as terrified as she was. She opened her mouth to speak again when the esper’s eyes went wide, and she held out a hand. Ingrid felt the wind beside her head as a knife, followed by a few freshly severed hairs blew past. She whirled around to see Alviss walking forward, twirling a throwing knife around their finger. The elf had an eyebrow raised in what almost looked like surprise. It was as if they hadn’t expected their knife not to find its mark.
Ingrid recalled one of the conversations she had had with Malori on the road, when the girl had mentioned being able to move small objects around. A lump formed in her throat as she realized that Malori had likely just saved her life, or at least prevented her from becoming grievously wounded.
She held the spear with shaky hands as Alviss came closer. There was no urgency to their approach, yet no confidence either. There was only an air of cold indifference, like killing Malori and Ingrid was some forgone conclusion that the elf barely needed to put any effort into.
They stopped spinning their knife, catching it in a reverse grip. Ingrid frowned. Her spear had better reach than a simple dagger by a long shot, why were they giving themselves even less? She clicked her tongue. Something needed to happen or she and Alviss would be staring at each other all night while Berith finished off her friends. Letting out a battle cry, she rushed forward, spear at the ready. Alviss still didn’t react.
Ingrid jabbed the point at them, trying to call forth what little experience she had wielding a spear to the forefront of her mind. Alviss was shorter than her, and using a weapon with far less reach. She had an advantage on that front, but there was no doubt in her mind that they had likely years, if not decades more experience than her in an actual fight.
They didn’t even block any of the spear strikes, instead opting to dodge and shift out of the way of each one. They moved almost like the wind itself. As soon as the spear thrust forward, the change in the air pushed them out of the way. Ingrid jabbed forward again, expecting it to be dodged. Alviss once again nimbly moved out of the way, giving Ingrid the chance to swing the spear at them like she would her staff. Alvis tapped the bottom of the shaft with their knife blade, somehow hitting it hard enough to knock the spear upwards and duck under it.
Starting to panic, Ingrid used the momentum to continue twisting the spear around, trying to catch her opponent again with a strike from the wooden shaft, but Alviss leapt over it, moving even closer. She dashed backwards, but Alviss read her like a book and followed. Ingrid’s panic began to intensify as her instincts from fighting with a staff started to take hold. She started to swing wildly at Alviss, desperate for any of the strikes to even be blocked so that it didn’t just feel like she was swinging a stick in the air like a madwoman.
She wanted to use magic.
She had to use magic, or she was going to die.
Those thoughts rang out like church bells through her mind as finally, Alviss deemed it appropriate to block one of the strikes, simply reaching across with their right hand and catching the shaft. If catching a hard wooden object mid swing was painful, they didn’t show it as they spun around and slammed the dagger into Ingrid’s side. She cried out in pain, one hand leaving the spear to clutch the wound as Alviss tore the knife out, a spatter of blood following it. Twirling the knife to hold it normally, they slashed it across Ingrid’s other arm, causing her to drop the spear.
Another slash across her abdomen came in what felt like the same instance, before the knife came hurtling towards her throat. She held up her hand, screaming again as the blade entered her palm and exited the back of her hand. The pain was blinding, disorienting. Her knees buckled and she fell back, knife still embedded in her hand. Alviss held the dagger with both hands, forcing it towards Ingrid’s throat as she desperately tried to hold it back.
Malori, where the hell are you? She thought to herself.
Ingrid couldn’t bring herself to look away, staring directly at her death as it approached agonizingly slowly.
Are you just sitting there watching me die? Do something!
Tears welled up in Ingrid’s eyes, fueled by a mix of pain and fear. She couldn’t even yell her thoughts out loud. She was going to die. She was going to die and she was never going to see her brother again.
She was never going to see Alice again.
Malori, please just do something useful for once in your life.
She almost felt like laughing at the thought. It amazed her how rude she could suddenly become when things became life or death. Only now, it was hers.
“What in the ever-loving fuck do you think you’re doing!” Shouted a familiar voice more furious than she had ever heard before.
Alviss’s eyes went wide as they pulled the knife out of Ingrid’s hand, jumping back from three throwing knives that came flying out of the darkness. Just as fast as they had come, the form of a person followed, slashing two different blades at Alviss as they put up a defense. They were no longer able to dodge out of the way like they had with Ingrid’s spear, instead mixing in their movement with carefully placed blocks to prevent the shortsword or dagger in front of them from putting a quick end to the fight.
Ingrid’s vision felt blurry, but the ear splitting clang of metal kept her awake. A much taller form was engaged with Alviss, actually managing to push the elf back. The taller woman struck again with the shortsword, this time catching Alviss’s knife in the guard of the hilt. Twisting her own blade and casting it aside, she wrenched the dagger from their grip, buying just enough time to shove her own dagger towards their heart. Mustering what was likely all the speed they could, Alviss managed to keep the blow from killing them. Even with that burst of movement, they still found the blade shoved into their chest. They pulled backwards, rolling away and clutching the wound.
They glanced over at where Berith and Kallen’s fight had been happening, but Ingrid couldn’t see what the state of it was. Looking back at Ingrid, Alviss scowled, then dashed away.
Alice immediately rushed to Ingrid’s side. “Okay, okay, shit, fuck,” she gasped as she looked over her wounds. She quickly reached into the dimensional bag at her side and began applying bandages where she could, and applying pressure to the stab wound on her side.
It was probably a mix of pain and fatigue, but Ingrid’s eyes felt heavy. “Did you… Find our stuff?” She rasped.
“Yeah, yeah, I found it. Just stay with me Princess, count up by threes. Okay?” She said frantically before her voice switched to one of anger. “Where in the fuck is Malori! She’s supposed to be the one handling thi–”
Alice couldn’t finish her sentence. She was held aloft, groaning and clutching her neck as Berith stood over her, fingers around her throat. “I was wondering where you went! You know I don’t take kindly to people hurting Alviss.”
His playful demeanor was gone, replaced with cold irritation. His other hand held a groaning, bloody Kallen by the ankle. Ingrid looked up to see Natalia face down in the dirt, unmoving.
“Eat shit,” Alice spat, ignoring the claws digging into her neck. She cried out in pain as Berith gripped tighter.
“What a mouth you have! I think I’ll start by ripping out your tongue,” He growled, hurling her at the wall. The wood splintered on the impact. He rolled his shoulder again, dropping Kallen as he walked towards Alice.
Ingrid looked around. Natalia wasn’t moving. Kallen and Alice were both in pain and could barely move. She was in pain and could barely move. Malori was nowhere to be seen. Her heart pounded as Berith approached Alice, raising his hand to end it.
Oh gods, he was going to end it.
Alice was right there in front of her and Berith was going to kill her.
The wind began to pick up with her breath as she tried to move towards her friend. Berith was closer. She closed her eyes and ignored the pain in her side, pushing herself up. Berith was closer. She didn’t have her staff, she would struggle with magic. Berith was too close.
Ingrid gritted her teeth. She blocked out all of the pain that tried to pierce her mind and her focus. She shunted away the fatigue from using powerful magic before. It didn’t matter. None of it mattered if Alice died here. She called out to nature around her, everything that would listen, and to Nilin themself. The ground rumbled below her as she began to muster all the magic she possibly could.
“NO!”
Her eyes snapped open at Alice’s scream. The wind dropped, and the ground remained still. Immediately she fell back to the ground, the magic making her feel lightheaded. She looked up to see Alice, injured and cornered by Berith. A knife dropped from her hand as she no longer needed to throw it. Ingrid’s eyes widened.
She was going to throw it at her.
Even Berith looked confused back and forth between the two.
Ingrid was shaking. She had only ever heard a scream like that once before. It was from her sister. When Ealadha blocked the sword aiming for Ingrid and took it through his heart.
Was that really Alice? Why did she stop her? Time felt like it was moving in slow motion as Berith shrugged and turned back to her. It didn’t matter anymore. The magic she had tried to gather left. There was nothing more she could do.
“W-Wait,” A soft voice pleaded.
Both Ingrid and Berith turned to see Malori. She was practically vibrating with fear, unable to even meet Berith’s eyes. His shoulders seemed to relax slightly, and his smile returned.
“Oh, it’s just you. I was worried–that’s a lie, I wasn’t–it would be someone I had to fight,” He chuckled, “What do you want? Gonna ask to trade yourself for your friends? I’ve heard that one before, but I’m gonna be real, I can still just kill them and experiment on you anyway.”
Malori took a shaky breath. She clutched her robes so tightly that her knuckles blended in with them. Seemingly mustering all of her strength, she looked Berith in the eyes.
There was an unnaturally long pause. For almost half a minute, Berith and Malori simply stared at each other. Berith was the first to move, though not in the way Ingrid expected. She would have thought him to finish off Alice and then cripple Malori. She certainly didn’t expect him to take a shaky step back.
He started breathing faster, his legs shaking. He clutched his head, hunching over. Ingrid realized there were tears in his eyes. He was crying. He took another step back before falling to his knees, a look of confusion and agony on his face as he looked back at Malori. Her brow was furrowed, and her eyes were closed, like she was concentrating. Berith let out a cry of anguish, reeling back and falling on his side.
Before Ingrid could even try to process what was happening, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She whirled around to see Natalia helping a struggling Kallen. Blood was all over her face, and her cheek was torn from Berith’s gauntlet.
“Don’t waste this! Move!” She shouted, rushing for the hole in the wall.
Malori rushed to Ingrid’s side, helping her to her feet. “Sh-She’s right! We don’t have l-long,” she gasped.
Against the wall, Alice managed to force herself up. She looked at Ingrid, then sighed with relief. She rushed over and grabbed her, slinging an arm over her shoulder. “Alright Princess, let’s get the hell outta here. I don’t know what that was, but I’m taking it!”
The five of them rushed out of the camp as fast as they could, leaving the sounds of the roaring fire behind them. As they ran, Ingrid couldn’t help but keep casting glances back. Berith was on the ground writhing, but whatever it was wasn’t pain. She didn’t have nearly enough time to think about it before he was blocked out by the shadows of the trees.