Chapter 12 – A Roar of Defiance

The eyes of the unfamiliar woman bored into Adam’s with a cold hatred. Well-trained muscles in her one arm bulged as she made the unmistakable gesture of a warrior’s challenge. Somehow, she radiated heat, which prickled Adam’s skin like intense sunlight.

Despite Adam's utter exhaustion, his hands itched to respond with the same gesture. Years ago, during the War of the Prophet, he would have accepted her challenge without a doubt. He would have defended his painfully gathered honour to the death. But it isn’t just about me anymore. Catherine, Eric, Oliver, and Emily need me.

Adam raised an eyebrow. Hmm… if this warrior truly is another intruder like me and Emily, she might not be popular with the Roots as well.

Behind Adam and Emily’s arch, the giant Root snake opened its maw, causing an overwhelming stench to billow out. Instead of teeth, the monstrosity had rows of whale-like baleens dripping with purple ooze. The snake inhaled loudly.

“Well?” the warrior asked casually. “Cat got your tongue? Grow a spine and face with me a shred of dignity!”

“Damn you and your challenge,” Adam said flatly. “I’ve got better things to do.” He looked Emily in the eyes, nodded, and jumped off the arch.

“What?! Wait!” Emily screamed. She jumped after him, grabbed his arm and formed an Ironglass chain. The chain’s other end wrapped itself around the arm of Catherine’s statue so they could swing down. “Oof… Muscles were heavier than fat, huh?”

“Cowards!” the warrior screamed.

The snake simply directed its maw towards her and blew. A billowing mass of thick, brown smoke surged from its maw and straight towards the warrior.

She looked at the monster with savage fury, leant forward like a beast and roared with unforgiving power. Undoubtedly using an Invocation of the Forbidden Arts, she screamed with the cries of a thousand wild animals at once. It was a cry of unmoving defiance against all odds, of survival no matter the cost. The sheer force of her roar blasted the stream of smoke apart in all directions.

After Emily brought them to the ground, she and Adam bolted to the doors in unspoken agreement.

Adam noticed a vague, earthy smell coming their way. “Hold your breath!” he hissed quickly. Even though he’d inhaled just a tiny diluted bit of the brown mass, Adam felt his thoughts getting hazier and his legs less coordinated. Oof, imagine taking a full hit of this garbage. The doorways loomed up in the distance, but foot-long thorns of the Overgrowth had barricaded them completely.

“We might escape if we can get them to keep fighting each other!” Emily whispered. “Or make sure they stay in each other’s way!”

From the shadows, the hideous maw of the snake shot out towards Emily. She jumped back and formed an Ironglass chain to swing away and dodge its baleens. Adam dashed to help, but the warrior jumped straight at him from up above.

“Damn you!” the warrior screeched, heaving her sword. Using the Forbidden Arts, she enveloped the blade with an orange aura made of shifting shapes like claws, snarling jaws of reptiles, and scissoring scythes of insects.

Adam weighed the way she held her sword, guessing how she would swing it. Trying to dodge what seemed like a downward slash, he leapt to the side. A quick quiver in her mouth betrayed her feint. As quick as lightning, her arm switched direction and turned her slash into a thrust. Adam dropped down backwards, letting the blade pass barely an inch above his chest. The savage energy of the sword’s aura surged forward in the direction of her thrust and bit a hole into the stone floor with terrifying ease.

Adam rolled to the side, but her foot caught him right below the ribs and forced the air from his lungs. The kick sent him flying like a rag doll until his back slammed into a stone pillar, which cracked and wobbled from the sheer impact. Small pieces of plaster from the ceiling showered him as he fell to the floor.

Adam’s vision blacked out for a moment. He wanted to scream, but his lungs convulsed in coughs that stung him to his core. His spine felt like it could crumble at any moment, yet no comforting heat came from his exhausted heart. Adam tried to get up, but the pain was too much.

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The warrior leisurely walked the distance towards Adam. “I’m sorry, did that hurt? My foot must have slipped.”

Farther back in the room, Emily swung with her Ironglass chains to evade the snake. The Root monstrosity followed and effortlessly kept pace with her, blocking the ways she wanted to swing with its misshapen head. It reminded Adam of a cat playing with its prey. Come on, Emily! I guess the Shepherd is controlling that thing from somewhere inside the snake. Maybe if we can hit it…

Emily landed on the ground and dismissed her Ironglass chains. With one hand, she formed a ball of Marrow and used the other to fill it with Shrike and create a Shrike-bomb. However, the Roots that formed the snake with their bodies had taken their masks off. While trying to get up, Adam gasped and almost fell on his face.

“Help us!” Louis yelled. The father of Emily and Caine, with his chestnut moustache and curly hair, tried to free himself from the gnarled masses of the snake’s body.

“By Aves, do something!” Oliver screeched in a high pitch. He struggled with a thick vine that tried to strangle him.

Adam’s mouth hung open. The snake turned out to be made of people dear to them, trapped and bound together by the Overgrowth vines. Emily gasped as well, her face was even more ashen than usual. She’d already begun to throw the Shrike-bomb, but awkwardly changed direction. The Shrike-bomb hit the ground and exploded; the compressed Shrike was released and sent shards of Marrow flying in all directions. The snake, unharmed by her Invocation, reached out with its maw. Emily barely managed to roll out of the way.

Adam swallowed, and furiously tried to get to his feet. If all Roots are people, then… who did we take down earlier? And, wait, why did they crumble?

“We have to help them escape!” Emily yelled, swinging away with a new Ironglass chain. She formed a Marrow halberd with her other hand and manoeuvred around her foe.

The warrior casually turned her head. “Escape, hmm? I don’t think so.” She closed her eyes in an expression of intense sadness or regret. She let her head fall back and opened her mouth. A whirling dark-grey cloud of translucent shapes poured out and floated towards the window with a soft hiss.

Adam groaned as he tried to get to his feet again. Since the warrior was occupied with cutting off their escape route, he studied the snake more closely. Wait, the Shepherd made this thing, just like the peacock. So it could have similar abilities!

Adam’s gaze darted over the people in the snake’s body, looking at the details. And there, in the back of the snake, was a sickly black-haired woman who cried for help: Vera, Emily and Caine’s mother. The problem was that she had turned to the Pure during the War of the Prophet. And the last thing the Pure—who smiled euphorically despite any wounds of battle—would do is ask for aid.

“The people are an illusion!” Adam yelled. “They’re just Roots!”

“What?” Emily gasped. She glanced at Adam for a split second.

The snake’s maw darted forward, capitalizing on that one moment of distraction. Emily hastily formed a sphere of Ironglass around herself, barely in time before the snake’s oozing jaws closed around it. The snake threw her to the side and her spherical shield bounced off one of the pillars. A vague shimmer occurred along the beast’s body as the illusion dissipated and the people turned into Roots again.

Adam watched in horror, panting and finally standing on his feet again. His knees wobbled more than he liked to admit, though. The warrior finished up her Invocation: a disturbing cloud of soundlessly howling, shifting heads of people and animals which blocked the window entirely. Any Overgrowth vines it touched were dissolved like acid.

Adam groaned, not feeling ready to fight anything. A primal part inside of him screamed to run away, to hide in a corner and live another day.

“Stay alive,” his heart whispered, although no heat came from it.

Adam shivered and felt the blood drain from his face. No. Emily needs me and that warrior hates me too much to let me escape anyway. We only stand a chance if we fight together. He eyed the warrior for a moment and bolted to the side, towards where Emily fought the snake. Biting through the agony that shot through his back, legs, and stomach, he kept running. Step by bloody step.

Although the warrior was ridiculously powerful, speed didn’t seem to be her strong suit, which he hoped to exploit. He did expect her to use a ranged attack on him though.

The warrior didn’t disappoint. With a savage hiss, she formed the savage aura around her sword again and swung the weapon sideways. Instead of a straight beam, the energy left her sword in a wide arc which surged towards him. Adam forced his tired body to jump over it and let the Invocation pass beneath him. The exhausted muscles in his legs protested, and when he hit the ground again something cracked in his right ankle.

Adam yelped. Raw pain made his leg shiver and he stumbled forward. The snake moved towards him, hissing in fury. He swallowed, stood tall, and roared with a dry, hoarse voice. His lungs protested but he didn’t care; if he died it would be with his chin up.

The snake greedily opened its mouth and swung its tail horizontally at Adam.

Unable to jump with his hurt ankle, Adam dropped to the floor. The massive tail should’ve passed right over him, but the Roots that formed part of the snake stretched out their arms. Adam growled when the clawed hands dragged him along. As Adam struggled, he vaguely remembered joking about how he wanted to join the gathering of Roots. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t quite a ‘cosy’ experience.

The Roots’ filthy hands were everywhere. They grabbed his arms, coat, and feet. As he tried to bite, the Roots twisted his head into a painful angle. Adam yelled and wrestled with every ounce of strength he had left. Still, it wasn’t enough. There simply were too many Roots and he couldn’t move an inch.

“Stay alive,” Adam's heart whispered.