Red Fang glared down into the valley, four rows of wolf soldiers standing at his back. They each wore a collar – white, green, red, or black – that pressed tightly against their necks. Swaying impatiently, they waited for the command that would send them down the pathway to slaughter the fairies camped below.
Red Fang was a head taller than even the largest of his soldiers. He barked an order for them to be still, and they quickly complied. His nose was a hair away from the golden barrier, but he did not move past it.
Milly studied the dynamics from the small, hidden hole in their camouflaged stone shelter.
“What are they waiting for?” Rain asked curiously, leaning over Milly’s shoulder.
Their answer came in the form of an earthquake. The ground beneath them began to shake, and it cascaded across the entire valley. White-crested waves appeared as the calm surface of the Lake of Memories was shattered. Shouts ran out across the Gathering as sleeping fairies were jolted awake under collapsing tents and wagons. The rustle of the leaves from violently shaking trees made it sound like they were in the midst of a hurricane.
Hundreds of waterfowl flew into the air as a massive obsidian slab emerged from the centre of the Lake of Memories. The tombstone-like object was over a hundred feet across and twice as tall. It rose into the air until its peak reached the ridge of the valley. There were golden symbols etched across its surface, which Milly could not read.
As the obsidian slab reached its pinnacle, six beams of multi-colored light shot from the tip of the slab to the six tallest trees in the valley. Strips of colored fabric appeared in their branches that unfurled and blew in the wind. A circular, sparkling border of light appeared around the base of each tree, ten feet across. The nearest of the trees had been transformed above Whitewing and her healers. They scrambled beyond its glow, though it did not harm them.
The rumbling abruptly stopped, and the world around them was engulfed in a tense silence.
There was an electric crackle in the sky above, and Tutoria’s voice emerged from above the obsidian slab.
“Players, welcome to the Arena of Protection!” she bellowed across the valley. She was using the same announcer-style voice she had adopted when the God Contest had moved into Phase Two.
“Those cloth-covered trees are Korean, Mils,” Rain whispered, pointing to the one towering above Whitewing. “I went there on a high school trip. They are called seo… seo something. The patron god of this arena must be a Korean diety.”
“That she is, Ms. Desjarlais,” Tutoria exclaimed in a chipper voice, evidently listening in on their conversation. “Seonangshin is the patron deity of villages. Her manifestation embodies the six protective seonangdangs that have appeared around this arena. It was her sacred duty to defend villages under her protection. It was a duty she executed with dedication and honor for millennia. But now that time is over. All that remains is her manifestation, and this arena.”
Tutoria let a mournful pause hang in the air, as if her words were part of a funeral speech. Milly remembered Hephaestus’ words from the memory sphere. I watched the madness take my brother. I see it gaining hold in the others. I feel it trying to grab on to me. How long do we have before we are all lost?
Had the real Seonangshin succumbed to the madness? How many of the gods had fallen to their madness, leaving only the pre-programed manifestations they had designed for the God Contest?
“The wolves are at your door!” Tutoria boomed, suddenly breaking the silence and resuming her jovial announcement. “Defend those who cannot protect themselves. Honor Seonangshin as you fight to save the lives of the helpless.”
The fairies assigned to the strike groups scanned the skies, their knees quaking as they tried to locate the voice in the heavens. Several monkey fairies fell to their knees in prayer, evidently familiar with Seonangshin. Across the gathering, the chaotic shouts of fear grew to a fever pitch.
“As a final act of her service, Seonangshin will shelter any fairies who stand within the seonangdangs’ light. It will protect them from harm. The players will be declared victorious once they…”
Tutoria’s voice suddenly cut off, leaving only the shouts of the terrified fairies. She resumed a few seconds later, only her voice had slipped into a flat monotone devoid of emotion.
“Error. Arena corrupted. Victory conditions not found. Arena explanation terminated.”
A dark, billowing cloud emerged from the pinnacle of the golden dome, spreading out like a disease over its surface. The first rays of dawn were absorbed by the darkness, leaving the world below encased in sickly black and red.
“Milly, I don’t think this is supposed to happen,” Rain said as she watched the darkness cover the valley. “It’s spreading like a disease.”
Milly’s glasses flashed, and a small line of text scrolled across the bottom.
CORRUPTION LOCATED. SCANNING ANOMOLY. SENDING DATA TO AI DIRECTOR.
“I hope you can see this, Luna” Milly whispered to herself, holding her head steady so the glasses could scan the corruption in its entirety. “We need your help right now.”
The moment the darkness touched the forest floor, Red Fang and his wolves passed through the barrier. They marched down the path, headed towards the gathering.
Calista signaled silently to the defenders with a raise of her spear. Be ready. Here they come.
The slow march of the wolves quickly became a disorderly run as the sounds of the helpless fairy prey reached them. The smell of their victims excited them, and the wolves began to howl in triumph as they loped down the path, filled with bloodlust and confidence.
The fastest wolf – a smaller, grey beast that led the pack by two wolf-lengths – made it halfway down the path when she struck the first of the pitfall traps. Her face contorted in shock as the branches hiding the pit snapped beneath her feet and she tumbled down face-first as full speed. The wolf met her death as she her head and chest were skewered upon the sharp branches at the bottom of the pit.
“Hold!” shouted Red Fang, but the command did not come fast enough. A second wolf crashed into another pit just as Red Fang ceased his own charge. “I said hold, you sorry excuses for pups!”
Red Fang sniffed the air, and his good eye narrowed in anger. “I know that scent,” he growled, unconsciously caressing his eyepatch.
The wolves assembled in small groups behind Red Fang, confusion spreading through their ranks.
They thought this would be easy. They aren’t used to fairies putting up a strong resistance.
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“Milly,” whispered Rain, pointing towards a group of five wolves that had grouped tightly together. “Tell Marvin to do what Auntie Rain taught him.”
“Marvin? Who is…” Milly started to ask, until one of the eight threads that connected her to the undead muskrats began to glow in her mind. She closed her eyes and mentally pulled the thread. The connection to ‘Marvin’ snapped into her thoughts. She could see him lying low in the rocks only a few feet away from the five wolves. She could faintly feel the vial between its teeth and its belly filled with liquid.
“You named the muskrats, Rain?” Milly asked in disbelief.
“Of course. Everything deserves a name. Now hurry up.”
Milly relayed the direction to Marvin. Marvin… um… do what Rain told you to do.
She felt the undead creature acknowledge her orders with excitement. Milly closed off her mind to the muskrat. She didn’t know what Rain had in mind, but she knew she didn’t want to feel it in her head.
“Let’s introduce some more chaos,” Rain chuckled, wringing her hands like a cartoon villain. Despite the situation and the emotional fire of Salem’s Fury, Milly couldn’t help but smile at her friend’s enthusiasm.
Marvin the undead muskrat bounded from his hiding place and into the middle of the five wolves. They looked down at the creature with confusion. Marvin returned their gaze and broke into a big muskrat grin. He shattered the blue vial between its teeth and its contents flowed into his stomach.
The resulting explosion flung the wolves – what was left of them – thirty feet in all directions, and the remaining wolves, except Red Fang, were knocked off their feet. When the dust settled, all that was left was a three-foot deep hole where the five wolves once stood.
“You made suicide bomber undead muskrats?” Calista whispered to Rain from her shelter. “You are a scary lady, Rain.”
“They were already dead, so that’s probably not an accurate description. And I was hoping the explosion would be bigger, but their tiny stomachs can only hold so much,” Rain answered, slightly disappointed. “Oh, I hit level nineteen!”
Rain opened her character screen and quickly added two points to agility. A slight shiver ran up her spine as the enhancement took effect.
“Get on your feet, you fucking useless excuses for wolves,” Red Fang shouted, kicking at the prone wolves. They could hear the blind rage in his voice as he hauled them to their feet. “You are embarrassing your clans. Get up and kill them all.”
The wolves resumed their chaotic charge forward, though their hesitation in their movements. Continually jostling to avoid the lead position, their savage certainty had been replaced with unexpected fear.
“They don’t have the discipline of Red Fang’s slaver pack,” Rain murmured, studying their charge. “He must nip at their heels to keep them moving. Curious.”
“They are still dangerous, Rain,” Milly reminded, her gaze fixed on Red Fang. Sparks of magic formed on her fingertips, anxious for the fight to arrive.
There was a sharp crack as another wolf struck a pitfall trap and fell to its death. A second later, another had fallen. A third was crushed by a boulder shoved from the fairies positioned on the slopes above. Despite it all, Red Fang did not slow their charge. He raced forward in his rage, leaping over the pits uncovered by his dying pack and barreling towards his unseen targets. All the while, he snapped at the heels of his pack, driving them forward.
At the half-way point, Red Fang moved from the back to the middle of the pack, the scent of his prey reaching his nose. He scanned the bottom of the path, desperately searching for its source.
Four young wolves found themselves at the rear of the pack and stopped their charge. Without Red Fang driving them forward, they were having second thoughts. They stood in the middle of the path, paralyzed by indecision.
Above them, a boulder had been dislodged and was tumbling towards them.
Milly slapped her forehead in exasperation when she saw Xavier standing atop the boulder, nimbly riding it down the slopes. He had his black blade drawn and his feet quickly danced to stay equal to its momentum. He jumped off just as the boulder slammed into two of the wolves and crushed them beneath its weight. All that was left was a red smear when they had once stood.
Xavier landed behind the two remaining wolves and quickly impaled one through the back. Black fire licked across the wolf’s fur where it had been struck, and its face went pale as it died. Xavier kicked the dead creature’s back to dislodge his blade and turned to face the final wolf with a triumphant grin.
“What a show-off. This isn’t the time for that, Xavier,” Milly murmured to Rain.
“Maybe, but it got the job done. It’s your turn now,” Rain shrugged, pointing towards Red Fang as his remaining pack reached the bottom.
Calista signaled Milly with a subtle wave of her spear.
“Okay. Wish me luck,” Milly said.
Milly held out her arms and opened her palms towards the sky. Channeling fire into her left and air into her right, she slapped them together with a loud crack. The two magics merged to create electricity - a lightning bolt cupped in the palm of her hands.
Milly stepped out from behind the hidden stone shelter and targeted the nearest wolf, a massive light-brown beast that was dangerously close to Calista’s shelter. She thrust her palm forward and her first bolt of lightning arched across the battlefield. The power of her magic took the wolf off its feet and hurled it into a willow tree. Its scorched corpse fell to the ground, and the smell of charred fur wafted in the air.
Calista and Rain gaped in stunned disbelief at Milly’s power.
“What… what the hell, Milly?” Calista exclaimed in utter shock.
Milly simply shrugged and cut down a second wolf with the same spell. Her magic reserves dropped significantly after each casting.
It’s a powerful spell, but it drains my magic so quickly. If I overdo it, I won’t have any magic left. But it did the trick. Here he comes.
Red Fang swerved towards Milly. His eyes were fixated on her throat, and hatred filled his every movement. In his fury, he abandoned command of this pack, leaving his remaining wolves vulnerable and confused.
Just as planned.
Milly felt no fear. Any fear she had was burned in the fires of Salem’s Fury. Fuel for her own righteous anger. She ran an impatient finger along her scarred arm as she waited for him to arrive.
“No quick ending for you,” Milly hissed, remembering the death he had brought upon the Lost Foals. She channeled earth magic and fragments of stone rose into the air and encased her fist in a protective stone shell. “Let’s do this.”
* * *
The wolves continued their charge but uncertainty, sewn by the departure of their leader, slowed their moment. They stared at Red Fang’s form as he ran towards the witch, so the first wolf to pass beyond the stone shelters did not see Calista’s hurled spear pierce its skull from ear to ear. It collapsed forward, somersaulting along the ground, until its momentum ended.
“Now!” Calista shouted to the strike teams, recalling her Spear of Pinga and throwing it at the next closest wolf. Her spear struck it in the ribs, and it let loose a howl of pain, until Calista kicked it in the throat. She heard a sickening crunch as its windpipe collapsed, and the creature fell to its knees, gasping for breath.
Calista grabbed hold of the end of her spear and, dodging the wolf’s desperate strike, used it to swing herself around its body and behind its back. She took three steps away from the wolf and activated Spear Recall. Her spear ripped itself through the dying wolf’s body as it found the straightest path back to its owner.
In the few seconds Calista had taken to kill the two wolves, Sapphire’s warriors had launched a dozen nets towards those that remained. As four were ensnared, the fox fairies darted from the shadows and struck the wolves from behind and opened long gashes across their backs, just deep enough to draw blood. When the foxes were clear, the frogs spat their poison into the open wounds. The wolves spasmed as the paralysis began to take effect, and Sapphire signaled her trident-wielding warriors to move in and finish off the job.
The remaining two wolves had targeted Rain, though one already lay incapacitated on the ground, violently vomiting as Rain’s poisons took effect. Dodging the predictable strikes, she danced around the remaining wolf, waiting for the opportunity for a quick strike of her dagger. The wolf overextended itself, and Rain struck hard. She pierced it below the heart, only nicking the flesh beneath its thick fur, but it had been enough. The wolf staggered and slowed as the poison began to take effect.
Rain found herself only half paying attention to its final strikes as she waited for the poison to reach its heart.
“This is too easy,” Rain puzzled, lazily deflecting the wolf’s last, desperate strike. “These wolves are far weaker than the ones that attacked the Lost Foals. We’re stronger now, but not this much stronger. Something’s wrong. Where is the rest of their army?”
Her gaze scanned the horizon and fell upon a solitary figure standing at the top of the path. It was another wolf, studying the carnage below. His white fur was covered in blood-painted symbols, and it clutched a whip in its right hand and a bronze sword in its left. He did not raise the alarm. He did not move to help. He watched and waited.
A smaller brown wolf ran to the solitary figure’s side. They exchanged a few words, and he sent the brown wolf on its way.
“Shit,” Rain whispered with a sudden realization. She didn’t even notice the poisoned wolf fall to the ground. “Red Fang isn’t a general leading their army.”
Her eyes fell on Milly, locked in combat with the one-eyed wolf.
“He’s bait.”