Kade watched as the demonic arms supporting the defeated Elder at last let go, and the massive body slammed into the ground. Dirt and debris were lifted into the air as the titanic weight crashed down, and for a moment the body was almost lost in a cloud of dust. Kade forced his eyes away from the sight to take in the situation around them, worried that the endless smaller beasts might be taking this moment to strike. He was shocked to see the opposite, as the fall of the Elder appeared to have a destabilizing effect on the nearby legions, with most either running directly away, or following in the wake of the other behemoth still fighting Keeper Selina.
Moments later Drake was back by his side, clearly weakened by the efforts of holding back the flood of monsters on his own. Kade reached out a hand and the Aspect quickly took the shape of gauntlets, needing time to recuperate. Oddly, Kade felt a surge of energy enter him as his metal guardian rejoined him, though he had no time to consider the feeling, as Salarus emerged from the Elder which had finally stilled. The enormous body appeared to be withering rapidly, which appeared to be related to Sal’s staff, as waves of purple energy seemed to be draining into it, even as the Sorcerer walked away.
Sal gave a smile as he extended a hand toward Kade, “I thought I would have to scour the frontier looking for you,” he said. “I’m glad to see you safe, and thank you for your assistance.” Gwen approached slowly, an arm supporting the hunched frame of a clearly injured Jothus, and Ryndal was suddenly there as well, though Kade didn’t see him approach.
“Happy that I got here in time to be useful,” Kade replied while shaking the taller man’s hand. “So now what the hell do we do about that one?” he continued while gesturing at the tentacled behemoth uncomfortably nearby. Salarus looked from the indicated Elder to his wounded and exhausted team.
“It’s far more powerful than the one we just fought, though I can’t say by how much. Even still, it’s between us and the rest of the Keepers. If we were willing to abandon Keeper Selina to her fate I might suggest we fight our way around the Elder, but I’m afraid that doesn’t appear to be an option.”
Ryndal looked frustrated at that, “She’s nearly Quartus, Sal, she doesn’t need us. I say we do whatever we can to get back to the lines, and find a healer for Joth.” Salarus was already shaking his head.
“The moral issue of abandoning Selina is troubling, but it wasn’t what I was referring to. When I was briefly flying I had a clear view of the rest of the battlefield,” he let out a resigned sigh before finishing, “there were at least another half-dozen Elders out there. They all seem to be rising from the ground like this one.” The group took the news with varying degrees of disbelief. Jothus’ head simply fell, while Gwen seemed to be waiting for Sal to admit it was a joke. Ryndal swore aloud and kicked a nearby rock an impressive distance.
For Kade’s part, he hadn’t let himself believe he would be lucky enough to avoid another impossible fight, so he tried to turn his mind to solutions. “There’s hundreds of Keepers though, right? They have to be able to handle this.” He tried to keep a note of pleading from his voice as he asked the question.
Sal answered, the others lost in misery for the moment. “More than just Keepers, many of the Brotherhood of Karthas have joined as well. There are even rumors of Bringers somewhere in the ranks.” The Sorcerer quickly glanced around, checking the lines of lesser monsters as Kade had. Seeing no danger, he continued, “I don’t fear that the excursion group will be defeated, but casualties will be unavoidable and they’re clearly hard-pressed. We can’t assume Selina will receive reinforcements before she’s overwhelmed.”
At last Gwen seemed to gather herself, and spoke up, “What would you have us do, Sal? I used up almost everything I had on this one, and Joth won’t be fighting again today.” The dark-skinned giant stood up straighter in seeming defiance of the comment, but his shaking limbs and a grimace of pain showed the truth of her words. Ryndal chimed in as well.
“I don’t have any abilities that are worth using against an Elder that’s mostly underground. Maybe I could mess with some of its tentacles, but it has dozens.” Sal nodded, as if expecting this reaction.
“We have little choice but to make the most of what we have. I think distraction is a best case scenario, and I don’t think long-term is remotely feasible. We should charge toward the Keeper lines, unleashing everything we have on the way. If we survive, it will be a victory. If we manage to buy time, even better.” He looked around at the group, and Kade only belatedly realized that they were all deferring to his friend as the leader.
“Don’t waste your lives,” he said seriously. “Gwen, focus on getting Jothus to safety, use your ice only defensively, and carve into the beasts if you need to. Ryndal, cover them as best you can, engage any tentacles that get too close. Kade, your abilities seem particularly suited to this, can I count on you to help me slow the Elder down?”
Kade’s mind had already been turned to that intimidating prospect. “I’m with you Sal, now that it’s above ground, doesn’t it look a bit slow to you?” Kade smirked, and realized it was the first time he’d done so since before…He shook his head to clear it. This wasn’t the time for that. Sal watched the display with curiosity, but didn’t comment.
“It does seem slow compared to some, but be careful, you won’t survive a focused attack from an Elder of that power, and we’ve yet to see it use any unconventional abilities. Now we’ve wasted enough time, is everyone ready?” They all nodded, though without much confidence. “Very well, I should be able to start things off. Give me a moment; when you see the spell land, move as quickly as you’re able.”
The Sorcerer began to move toward the partially submerged Elder, and Kade cocked his head in curiosity as he noticed that power was still streaming into the man’s staff from the enormous corpse they were leaving behind. As Sal raised the staff above him, that power seemed to shift, and Kade watched in fascination as it flew forward to gather above the still-living Elder. It took a moment to understand what was happening, but soon the telltale fire of a Gate began to form, only this time, the size was vastly increased.
Kade assumed that the Sorcerer was somehow using the excess energy from the dying Elder to push the spell to new heights, but he didn’t understand why. He’d only spoken to Sal of the Gate briefly after their bout in the training arena, but he understood the demonic arms had belonged to a single, specific creature, and Kade didn’t think the size of its arms suggested it would need such an immense portal even if it was somehow pulled into this dimension in full. But as the Gate took shape, it was immediately clear that it wasn’t like the ones Kade had seen before.
The perfectly round portal glowed green, rather than being a uniform black, and beyond simply being reminiscent of liquid, it was actually dripping down onto the Elder below. Massive greenish globules slowly dropped onto the tentacled being as it fought its battle against Selina, and Kade saw smoke rising everywhere the liquid fell. For a moment he thought his friend had somehow made a Gate to some kind of acid vat, but only seconds later he spotted a dark shape behind the portal, and the truth was revealed.
It was a face, appearing female and pristine, with eyes and mouth tightly closed. It emerged slowly as the group watched in fascination, and it was clearly unbothered by the acid dripping from it. Kade glanced at Sal, and saw the man was still lost in concentration, so he held back his questions. He hadn’t known the Sorcerer could summon anything more than the flayed demon he’d now seen twice, and he couldn’t imagine this perfect humanoid face belonged to those ghastly arms.
His attention was drawn back to the sight as the eyelids peeled back, and the mouth slowly opened. Kade recoiled when he saw what the eye sockets contained, as dozens of snakes began to slither out, coiling around one another as they descended, searching for prey. The nose and mouth erupted with more serpents next, and each moved independently, their scales reflecting a multitude of colors as their mouths opened and tongues flicked out.
The Elder couldn’t miss the sight, as the face was nearly its equal in size, and tentacles rushed upward to intercept the approaching snakes. The serpents seemed to be part of a single, horrifying entity, as they all remained attached to the hovering face, though they appeared to react independently as they sprang downward, massive fanged mouths snapping closed on writhing tentacles. Nearly half of the Elder’s tentacles were occupied, and while many of them squirmed helplessly against the snakes, it was hardly one-sided as others were ripped from the floating monstrosity, causing more acid to rain down from the torn bodies.
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At last Sal appeared finished, and he collapsed to one knee, leaning heavily on his staff. Kade quickly went to his side, and could see his friend coughing up blood even as he waved away any help. “No time,” he croaked. “Go!” Kade understood, and looked back at the others only long enough to ensure they’d begun moving, before he too sprang into action.
Kade knew he didn’t have a trump card that could compare to the terrifying display Sal had managed, but he was determined to make a good showing of himself as he charged toward the struggling Elder. Keeper Selina was still hidden behind the enormous, bulbous head, but it was easy to tell where she was as flames continued to spill over the stoney hide of his target with regularity. Kade adjusted his path to ensure he wouldn’t run headlong into an unexpected inferno, then began his own attack.
As he ran directly up the closest tentacle, Kade was immediately certain that he wouldn’t be able to make much of an impact with his blades, as the creature was simply too large. Instead he did what he knew, and began to fire one bladed chain after another into the flailing limb. He channeled every bit of mana he had into strengthening them as much as possible, then added a new trick. He layered each chain in a burning coat of Chaos; the Elder could no-doubt snap his chains with enough force, but they would sear deeper and deeper into it as it did so, the Chaos burning and melting anything it touched.
Kade only stayed on the first tentacle for a matter of seconds before jumping to another, this one distracted by the bite of one of the enormous serpents. He had to be careful not to touch a small river of acid dripping from the fanged mouth as he ran in circles around the limb, wrapping his chains tightly. After a few revolutions his chains pulled him to another tentacle, and he meticulously repeated the maneuver over and over, squeezing all the speed he could from Relentless Pursuit.
Occasionally he would spot Ryndal slashing out against a particularly aggressive arm of the massive Elder, as Gwen pulled Jothus through the madness that the battle had become. When Kade was at last close enough to the head to see Selina fighting, he realized they didn’t have much time left. The impressive woman was still throwing blasts of flame, but her body was in ruins. She’d created some kind of shield made from fire to defend herself, but it was obviously far from enough as her robes were shredded, revealing countless injuries.
One leg ended in a jagged stump beneath the knee, and the opposite arm hung limply, her shoulder appearing crushed. Her Tertius body was entirely made of the tiny stone-like shards Kade was growing used to, so there was no blood on the woman, but she’d clearly pushed herself nearly to the limit if she wasn’t able to reshape her form any further. Kade knew getting between her and the Elder would only get him quickly killed, so he did the only thing he could: he sent some finely controlled chains out to wrap around the injured Keeper, then anchored into the ground around her at different angles.
He wasn’t sure if the grievously injured teacher was even aware of his intervention at first, but the next time she braced herself against a tentacle falling down toward her, she instead felt herself abruptly jerked sideways and out of harm’s way. The sudden move saved her from the attack, but also interrupted her concentration as she briefly stopped attacking to search out the source of her unexpected rescue. At last spotting Kade as he tied what felt like his thousandth knot of chain around the flailing Elder, Selina merely stared for a moment before giving the smallest nod, then continued her burning assault.
Kade didn’t know how long he jumped, dodged, and yanked himself through the forest of tentacles, but at some point he spotted Sal still at work, unleashing orbs of gravity as he made his way slowly toward the distant line of Keepers. Kade breathed a sigh of relief as the man blasted a path through the lesser monsters back to safety, before turning and gesturing for Kade to follow. Following was tempting, but Sal didn’t have the view that Kade did, swinging on chains high above the battlefield.
He’d been watching the steady progress of what he assumed was a team of powerful elites making their way from one towering Elder to another as endless battle raged on. One light show after another had heralded their victories, and now only two more of the immense creatures were between them and this final behemoth, still locked in combat against the hovering face of serpents and the burning Keeper. Kade didn’t know how much help he could be, but he wasn’t ready to leave Selina to face this Elder alone, and he’d managed to avoid being harmed thus far, even if he was running low on energy reserves.
As the explosions in the distance grew ever closer, Kade was starting to believe that they’d managed to do the impossible, and that rescue would soon arrive. Unfortunately the tentacled Elder seemed to sense this as well, and all at once the battle changed.
Kade was so focused on endlessly threading his chains around the monster that he didn’t immediately notice that he was higher in the air than he had been, until he realized the face above him was growing rapidly closer. Swinging to a tentacle farther from the center of the battle, he looked down in shock at the now exposed body of the previously submerged Elder as it ponderously tore itself free of the earth. Surprisingly its lower half was insectoid in appearance, and it had three sets of enormous, multi-jointed legs supporting a torso that seemed to be entirely composed of countless, tangled tentacles.
Kade felt his chains finally being strained as the enraged monster began to flail in earnest, seeming desperate to disentangle itself from Sal’s summoned ally. Snakes were torn apart as more and more limbs emerged from the creature and joined the attack, and Kade was soon in more danger from the continuous splashes of acid than he was from the Elder itself. Finally he felt his chains begin to snap, and he watched the titanic being flex and pull in every direction at once, even severing a number of its own limbs on the searing, Chaos-laiden chains that Kade had knotted so thoroughly around it.
Finally he felt himself hurled toward the ground, and even had the bad luck of being singed by one more desperate gout of flame from Keeper Selina before smashing into the ground with incredible force. Kade was still conscious–though barely–and managed to lift his head up to watch the gruesome sight high above him. The Elder was now tearing into the summoned being with abandon, heedless of the deluge of acid pouring down as it did so, and as the final serpents were torn from the disturbing face, it began to slowly recede into the Gate from which it came.
The Elder lost the ends of several more tentacles as the portal finally snapped shut, but it nevertheless roared in triumph, the sound vibrating everything around it. Kade could only stare at the monster now completely revealed, its segmented insect body stretching up into the sky, easily a hundred meters tall. He was painfully aware that it was now entirely unfettered, as even Selina had apparently at last given up in front of such a horrific sight.
The Keeper had collapsed nearby, and Kade could see that she’d given everything she had to last as long as she did. When the ground shook from the Elder taking its first, inevitable step forward, panic washed over him, and Kade gathered what little strength he had left to begin dragging himself backward. He’d been in shock before, but it was clear now that he’d broken his legs in the fall, and his left arm didn’t seem to be moving properly either.
In desperation he called to Drake, but the Aspect was strangely unresponsive, and so Kade could only slowly, painfully drag himself back toward the Keeper lines. When he looked backward he saw the futility of this action, as there were hundreds of smaller monsters between him and safety, and even now he was in danger of drawing their attention as he moved too close. Out of options, he at last let himself collapse. He thought that perhaps he had the strength to send out a few chains, but there was simply nowhere left to run to in this condition.
Following some instinct, Kade raised his good hand into the air, and fired three small bursts of Chaos directly upward, watching them explode like fireworks as his exhausted mind began to drift. He was staring at the moons again, and the sounds of the battle around him seemed to drift into the background. Why did the moons always seem so wrong, everytime he looked at them? The stray thought captured him, and he found himself slowly counting them, as he’d done so many times before as he stared out from the walls of Karthas.
The ground shook again, and he was distantly aware that the Elder was still walking inexorably forward. But the moons were just so beautiful, and mysterious. He thought back to his trial for some reason, though his addled mind couldn’t quite understand why. Keeper Selina was a teacher, maybe she could help him. He turned his head toward her, and saw that she wasn’t looking at the approaching Elder, but was instead facing away from Kade. He heard her say something, though he didn’t understand the words.
“You’re here…finally,” she whispered, and then Kade couldn’t see the moons anymore, as everything had gotten strangely bright. He squinted, trying to find the source of the unusual illumination, and at last saw a falling star descending through the sky. The star was beautiful, and it crashed right into the side of the Elder, now almost directly above Kade and Selina.
The vast creature seemed to almost cave in on itself from the impact, and the force of the collision sent it sprawling sideways abruptly, one of its insectoid legs snapping like a tree trunk as it was crushed beneath the mass of the falling Elder. Kade was struggling to see what was happening, when a cool flow of energy began pouring into him, and hands gently lifted him from the ground. He heard a voice as an unfamiliar face leaned over him. “Don’t worry Initiate, High Keeper Bandal will handle what’s left of that monster. You’re safe now.”
As the healing warmth flowed through him, Kade at last became aware of how badly his head hurt, and he could only think to say the strange thought that kept running through his mind, “I think there’s something wrong with the moons.”