Chapter
One-Eyed Toad Thing
Dust elementals were low-rank creatures - barely a step above a highway bandit or a large, hungry animal. That being said, Mikel knew his threat level was far below anything like that - in his mind, all he could do was fight and hope this particular elemental was weak. Very weak. Laughably weak.
Not the best mental image. He scolded as the dust elemental whirled towards him like a sentient tornado.
Mikel took up a fighting stance and brandished his sword like he’d read about. It was a pose he’d taken hundreds of times in practice, but this was the first he’d been in actual combat. He screamed and was surprised when the elemental skittered to a halt, small pebbles caught in its whorl clattering to the hard flagstones.
Mikel grinned, tightened his grip on his sword, and raised the blade over his head in preparation to attack.
Without warning the elemental surged towards Mikel and would have caught him had his ready stance and sudden fear of the attacking elemental not caused him to jump/fall to the side.
The dust elemental’s blow flew clean over his head.
Simultaneously, as Mikel hit the ground he watched as Helsket and Telgil’s plan took form.
Telgil stood behind Helsket, but not for protection.
Telgil was working while Helsket prepared for the coming fight.
Helsket raised his twin axes and glowered at the women whileTelgil laid a hand on Helsket’s shoulder. Mikel spared a glance in wonder as black and gold light poured from the smith into Helsket.
In a moment, his friend had changed from his already dangerous, youthful form into something far more vicious. Essentia poured into the giant man and made him hairier, stronger, and giant-er.
Mikel was forced to duck and look away as the dust elemental fell on him in a fury. He'd been distracted watching as Helsket began to grow fur and fangs and the lapse in judgment proved almost fatal as the lesser monster took its chance and pounced like a tiger.
Like a thousand tiny knives flying around at the speed of a galloping horse, Mikel struggled to defend himself from the tiny pebbles and rocks cutting him to bits. The death he careened towards was not quick and involved thousands of cuts, all bleeding him dry.
On instinct, he closed his eyes and lashed out with his sword.
All he heard above the roar of the wind was the sharp *pink *pink *pink sound of pebbles hitting his sword, and the sensation of his sword slicing through nothing but wicked air.
Then, he was flying again. As he opened his eyes against the whipping air he saw what Helsket had turned into.
Where the old warrior had stood moments before, now towered a giant black bear with gold rivulets of raw Essentia raining off of it. The monster’s claws were razor steel and each had the shape of Helsket’s bearded axes - its teeth shards of granite ripped from a mountain - and above the massive maw and snout, were two very familiar eyes anyone could easily recognize as Helsket’s.
Transfiguration. Mikel thought as he sailed through the air, the impact pushing him free of the dust elemental’s grasp.
Mikel hit the ground shoulder first and the jarring bounce sent his sword flying from him as pain rocketed through his body.
Stars flew in his vision as he struggled to stand - only to be overcome by the dust elemental once more. The creature, although thin and weak compared to other elementals, was inescapable in Mikel’s current state. Mikel could run, but he couldn’t hide.
Dust elementals were often used as scouts or forward harriers against larger forces. One on-one, if the dust elemental’s opponent lacked the proper weapons to harm it, the opponent’s only options were to run and hope they could elude the creatures, or die a slow, painful death.
There were stories of wild dust elementals tracking prey for days until the person or animal collapsed in exhaustion.
Mikel covered his eyes and nose with his arms and tucked into as tight of a ball as possible as the lessons the book had imparted to him came roaring back.
… ”Dust elementals are a weak variety of a fusion of earth and air elementals. They can assume any shape as their natural form is diaphanous and as fluid as the breeze that spawns them. In the wild, they will tend to avoid conflict unless they have larger numbers than the attacked party, or are of the larger variety. They tend to inflict pain and suffering on their victims by enveloping the victim's body with the elemental's own while bombarding them with painful stings and cuts from pebbles, rocks, and branches caught up in their forms. Suffocation is a minor threat as only the stronger versions of the dust elemental can control their constituent parts well enough to forcibly seal off a victim's breathing system. Caution should be taken with all elementals, and should only be engaged with if the reader is equipped with magical armaments or spells. It should be noted the elementals do not eat their victims - they kill for the joy of it.
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Mikel had neither magical armaments nor spells and suddenly realized just how naked he was. He’d drilled for countless hours to master the basics of his family's sword techniques, but had only ever practiced against mock humans - he’d never even thought to try and combat something more… Magical.
Now, he was paying the price for his lack of foresight.
He was miserable, helpless, and pretty sure he was about to die.
Well, eventually.
The dust elemental wouldn’t do it - he was sure of that - but the creature’s summoner would definitely finish him off. Before he’d been blinded with dirt and debris, he’d caught sight of a wicked-looking curved dagger at her hip. She was only a few feet away and he was an easy target.
Just as Mikel was about to lunge up and try one last attempt at escape - the dust elemental dissipated into nothing and the roar of the creature’s wind was replaced by the roar of the Helsket-Bear as it thundered towards the group of women on pillar thick legs.
The energy stored for the escape attempt found its way out of Mikel’s body by sending him flying backward and away from the spot where he’d been trapped.
With a skittering crash, Mikel landed for the (third?) time that day and was now used to getting tossed around. He got his feet under him as fast as he could, stood, and cleared his gaze of the sticky sand that had assailed him.
Even through the grit in his eyes, he could make out a terrible fight happening in the middle of the street - the onlookers, moments ago fascinated by the combat, were now scrambling over one another to escape the soon-to-be blood bath.
The ragged-bolts-of-fire woman had summoned a monster of her own which put the dust elemental to shame. In a way, it put the Helsket-Bear in his place too - few things could compare to the monster forming in the middle of the street. In a violent ripple of heat and flames, a towering column of fire that resembled a larger, meaner, and hotter version of the now-vanished dust elemental crashed into being. The aura of pleasant scents, delicate music, and peaceful chatter shattered in a monstrous roar as the new elemental screamed in infernic fury at being formed so quickly into existence. The air was hot with the smell of scorched earth and burnt hair - most of which was from the giant bear, but Mikel knew from the crackling feeling on his forehead that he hadn’t escaped unscathed.
The other women gathered around the bear and elemental and began chanting in one. It was obvious to Mikel, even half-blind, that the fire elemental was a distraction - as had been the dust elemental. Whatever the women were about to do would dwarf the elementals in scope, size, and lethality. These were things he knew without a doubt, and yet, he was frozen to the spot and unable to do anything as the Helsket-bear and fire elemental tore at each other in mortal combat.
He watched as the bear bit into the fire elemental’s arm and tore it free from its body, the elemental’s scream the roar of an inferno gone wild. Mikel didn’t think that should have been possible but wasn’t about to question something that finally gave them a leg up in the fight.
A ragged cheer broke from the crowd around them, their mad retreat paused for a moment to watch the gladiatorial combat, and Mikel was tempted to join in even as the bear moved to dispose of the arm.
The bear tossed the flaming arm aside and Mikel stepped back as the limb hit the ground and erupted in a cacophony of fire and heat which scorched his hair and burnt his skin even further.
By the time he’d turned back to the fight and blinked the pain away, the battle between the bear and the elemental was almost over.
The bear, by merit of some hidden faculty, was able to rend and tear the creature apart as if it were little more than red tissue paper floating in the air instead of a dread creature made of living, liquid fire.
Within moments the bear’s teeth locked around what served as the thing’s throat. With a grunt from the bear and the sound of its massive jaws snapping shut around the solid flame, the fire elemental exploded much the same way its arm had.
Then, Telgil was next to Mikel supporting him as he flailed back from the force of the explosion.
“Here, take this,” Telgil said as he slipped Mikel’s sword back into his hands, “It might not work against the elementals these witches have, but by the gods, it will work against them.”
Mikel watched in open amazement as Telgil summoned a massive black scythe adorned with glittering motes of even darker energy and gems, from the air. After he finished standing Mikel upright, he leaped towards the group of women as if he were a deranged farmer intent on harvesting his crops, no matter the cost.
The bear rumbled in its throat as it began to shrink and within moments only Helsket remained, clad in scorched clothing, hair frizzed in all directions with blackened tips, with his twin axe hafts smoking from the heat and abuse they’d just passed through.
This half-burnt, smoldering Helsket screamed at the women, witches Telgil had called them, and leaped towards them with death and destruction written plain in every sinew of every muscle in his body.
The women didn’t even flinch.
All of the active combatants, with Celine still standing apart from the melee, put their hands out in front of them and at once conjured something Mikel never imagined. It was what they’d all worked together to form with the long, group chant they’d sacrificed much to buy time for.
At first, the thing didn’t look like much - a discolored lump amongst the char on the ground. That didn’t last long though as the thing began to grow. Within seconds, between the time it took Helsket to launch his attack and the time he would hit, a massive one-eyed toad of a creature grew from the ground like a mushroom. First, it was the size of a small horse or large pig, then scant moments later it was triple that size and still growing, scrutes, scales, and slime all growing with it. By the time Helsket was about to slam his axes into the thing, the monster was the size of one of the buildings in the market and still shivering as its body sought to expand evermore.
Helsket’s charge bounced off the thing like a metal ball off a rubber wall and he flew backward with all the strength he’d put into the attack.
Telgil, sailing through the air and unable to change his trajectory, was able to pull his punch, but only slightly. The now dulled swing of the scythe still contacted the summoned creature, the reduced momentum enough to send him rocketing backward with Helsket into a hidden alley that branched off the main market road.
Then, with terror rising in him, Mikel turned and realized he was alone against the still-growing creature and the deadly, beautiful women who turned all eyes on him.
It was then that he decided to do what any brave adventurer would do - what every scion of his line would have done in the same situation - what every man presented with a pack of angry females intent on rending him limb from limb would do. He squared his shoulders, lowered his head, and in one swift movement, turned tail and ran in the face of overwhelming odds and a promised, violent death.
He sheathed his sword and without any adieu, turned and fled towards the alleyway Helsket and Telgil had been flung into, praying with every step that whatever the creature the women had brought into being was, was unable to follow them through the skinny passage.