Addie and Nettal approached the fort far to the left of the open entryway. Addie had discussed it with Nettal earlier this morning, and they both agreed it didn’t make sense to walk right next to the guardian ape by going through the entrance. At best, it would scream and cause a ruckus. At worst, the ape could break free of its restraints and chase the girls, but Addie tried not to imagine that.
So, just like Addie had done in her astral form the previous night, they decided to go directly through the walls, bypassing the entryway entirely.
Addie let out a breath to prepare herself. Then, with an expenditure of will, she and Squishy pushed everyone into Realmspace. After a few steps with no trouble, they continued forward more confidently. A touch more confidently, they continued forward with each step giving Addie more confidence. Maybe it had been silly of her to have been so scared of the ape the previous night. The thought almost made her laugh at herself.
Then, something outside of her soul tugged on her. In a flash, the brightness of reality returned, only for Addie to immediately hear an ear-splitting roar filled with power. The last time Addie had heard the roar might as well have been quiet murmurs when compared to hearing it up close.
Addie’s entire body shook so hard her vision went blurry. At the same time, the hold over her magic destabilized. The roar washed over her, stressing her soul and locking Addie’s body against her will. Terror filled her, driving the air from her lungs. She detachedly wanted to move, urgency clawing at her but terror stamping her feet to the ground.
And then, thankfully, it was over. The world around Addie returned to normal, and she could finally take in a deep breath. She hadn’t even realized she’d been holding it in. Now with the freedom to act restored to her, Addie quickly formed up two layers of transcendent loop around her soul. She kicked herself for a moment for not having it up already. Since it had so easily destabilized her magic, Addie now knew that roar targeted the soul. Addie hoped the hastily formed layers of transcendent loop would protect her. She made a promise to herself to practice constant transcendent loop casting going forward.
Feeling him across the bond, Addie realized Squishy was protecting his soul, too. Ember wouldn’t need any; she always liked to hide in the cracks within Addie’s soul, so she’d be protected by proxy.
But Addie was worried about Nettal. She hadn’t gotten as far along in magic lessons with Christena. Glancing Nettal’s way for a brief instant, she seemed alright, if a bit pale. She only checked on her cousin for less than a second.
Addie quickly moved her eyes to the ape, hoping it was still chained to the ground. It almost seemed to be smiling at her. No, not smiling– It stared at the girls with a feral grin, baring its canines. A deep rumbling came from its chest. Addie watched as the giant ape, at least three meters tall, started pounding against its chest. A new sound tore across the fort as shockwaves emanated with each pounding strike. The shockwaves made it hard to be relieved that the creature was still stuck to the ground.
Addie gulped as she realized there was absolutely no sense in staying here. She firmly grabbed onto Nettal’s hand as she prepared to drag them back out to Realmspace. Squishy’s presence bolstered her magic to help them go to the alternate dimension.
But then, the Ape roared again, so loud that a searing pain stabbed through Addie’s ears, sharp and sudden, as though a couple of needles had been driven into her skull. She felt liquid dribble down her ears, and the roar suddenly seemed muffled and somehow less real.
It took all of Addie’s concentration and will just to keep her transcendent loops stable. She had to protect her soul. All of the magic she had been building to push them into Realmspace lost its momentum. She couldn’t focus on keeping her soul protections stable and use her magic at the same time. Not against that incredibly loud terror-inducing roar, at least.
Then, the roar ended. Addie realized a dull ringing sound forced its way through her skull, and for some reason, the world began to spin. Then, Nettal was there, her warm hand against Addie’s face. With a flash of green eyes, the pain in her ears vanished. Addie could fully hear again, and the world stopped spinning.
Addie watched with wide-eyed horror as the ape reached down with both hands and pulled at the clasp attaching the chain to its ankle. The sound of screaming metal filled the air. Addie could see its muscles bulge, its chest seeming to grow three sizes larger as it strained. The metal around its ankle bent, screeching with a binary-awful sound. Addie still preferred it over the ape’s roars.
Even though she knew she should try to run away, Addie stared at the scene with a sort of anxiety-filled fascination— unable to keep her eyes away. She noticed her limbs were shaking slightly, her palms sweaty as she held them tightly at her sides.
The clasp chaining its left leg came off, bent beyond recognition. It moved its hands to the other clasp.
“Addie!” Addie realized Nettal had been shouting at her for the past few moments, but it only just now seemed to register. “Take us out of here!” She shouted.
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Squishy prodded her, helping Addie get her bearings again. Together, they pulled on their magic once more.
And the ape sucked in a mighty breath, letting go of the final clasp– aborting its attempt to destroy it at the same time. The snow around its feet seemed to whirl from the force of its inhale. Addie knew another roar was coming. She let go of her teleportation magic, needing to focus entirely on protecting her soul.
An idea came to Addie in that split second before the ape’s roar sounded. She had just enough time to say to Nettal, “I have an idea.” The corner of her mouth upturned in a smirk.
With an instantaneous pulse of magic, she and Ember formed a barrier of white-purple soul flames. It wrapped around them in a dome, Addie’s practice with her book paying off.
The roar sounded, just as loud and earth-shaking as before— with one major difference. This time, it didn’t affect Addie’s soul in the slightest. Based on the look she saw on her face, Nettal also seemed unaffected; Addie’s soul-flame shield protected them from the ape’s soul attack completely.
The brief reprieve gave Addie a moment to strategize. Nettal wasn’t a fighter. Addie knew whatever she did next she would need to focus on protecting her cousin. Luckily, even if Addie got hurt, she at least had the best healer she could ask for.
Her best advantage, she realized, was that the ape was temporarily immobile. Her best chance to win a fight would be to do something before it could release itself. Each time the ape shouted, it didn’t do anything else— it had even let go of the chain just a moment ago so it could shout. That would be her chance to act.
For a few more moments, the ape’s shout ineffectually washed over Addie’s soul-flame shield. Then, it was over.
With a wave of her hand, Addie gathered up the remnants of her shield to the front of herself. The book manifested outside of herself in an instant. With the book guiding her magic, Addie pushed all of the flames from her shield forward in a wide stream.
The white flames hit the ape, causing it to recoil as if from a physical force. Addie hadn’t been focused on making these flames hot. Instead, the flames targeted the ape’s soul. The giant ape took a knee and breathed heavily.
Addie watched and waited for a moment, wondering if the fight was over. She shouldn’t have hesitated, though. Luckily for Addie, Squishy had much better instincts. He rushed forward on all four limbs, crashing through the snow and wildly shoving the snow away using his chest. He practically tunneled through the snow, even as it collapsed on him.
It was enough. He reached the giant ape and leaped straight for the impossibly large curved sword sticking out of its neck. Squishy landed on the ape’s shoulders while it was still dazed from Addie’s soul attack, stumbling drunkenly. Pushing his paws against the ape’s shoulder for leverage, Squishy grabbed the sword between his jaws and flexed his entire body.
With a wet sound, the sword cleaved through the ape’s neck, his steaming head dropping onto the ground and melting the snow. The curved sword vanished into the snow a moment later, Addie hearing it bounce a few times as it hit the stone ground beneath.
Addie wanted to puke. Squishy was ruthless. Addie felt her horror and adrenaline rampage as a storm in her chest, fighting against the pride of a battle well won— she wasn’t sure which emotions were hers and which were Squishy’s. She was still shaking, staring at the now headless ape.
To the left and behind her, Nettal gasped. She tried to run forward as if to heal the ape, but Addie firmly grabbed her cousin’s wrist to stop her in her tracks.
Nettal shot Addie a horrified glare, but Addie just shook her head. Even if they wanted to heal the enemy, it didn’t matter now. Squishy had decisively ended the battle.
His black, scaly form steamed in the cold winter air as blood dripped down from his underside. For a moment, Squishy was silent, just padding at his defeated foe, but then he bared and pulled his lips back in a silent snarl– as if he hadn’t quite realized the battle was over yet.
“Squishy, it’s ok,” Addie said aloud, “It’s over.” She felt through their connection, to try and understand why he was snarling like that, but he just felt angry.
He ignored Addie’s words, choosing instead to keep growling at the very much dead ape. Surprisingly, there was a whole lot less blood than Addie expected there to be. Just a few drops from the initial cut. Addie stared at its bared neck with morbid fascination. She wanted to look away, or maybe puke, yet she couldn’t help but stare.
Squishy’s ears were up and alert, his eyes glowing and ready to use magic. He was still growling, too.
Addie took a moment to look next to her, where she was still holding tightly to Nettal’s wrist. Addie allowed herself to relax her grip. Now that things were calming down, she began to hear her heartbeat through her ears. She thought maybe she could feel Nettal’s rapid heartbeat from her hand on her wrist as well.
“Squishy, let’s go,” Addie urged him on, even sending the same words through the bond when he didn’t reply to her talking aloud.
Nettal gasped and moved back behind Addie. The unexpected movement from Nettal made Addie reevaluate her surroundings, looking for a threat. She scanned the battlements above, as well as all around the courtyard they were currently standing in. Addie took a quick moment to check the sky, trying to find whatever had spooked Nettal.
Addie heard the rustling of chains, and her attention moved back to the ape. With a hand larger than Addie was tall, the ape reached forward, grabbing its own head.
Squishy leaped backward, giving himself some space away from the danger.
The ape moved its head as if to reattach it to its body with a single hand. Its other hand moved underneath the snow. The glint of steel reflected the binary light as Addie saw it raise the giant sword, bringing all of the paralyzing terror from earlier back along with it.
Addie stood paralyzed as the ape swung down upon its own leg with extreme force. The final chain connecting it to the ground shattered from the impact. The only thing remaining of the chains were the steel bands around its ankles, no longer tethered to the ground.
Its face, disconnected from its body, began to draw its lips up into an aggressive teeth-baring smile. Then, the ape’s head reconnected with its body. Addie watched as it pulled in a giant deep breath.
“Squishy!” Addie screamed. He was too far away for Addie to shield!
But, Addie had a responsibility to her cousin. With urgency, and the desperate need to protect Nettal, Addie and Ember once again channeled their flames into a half-dome shield, the book helping the magic along.
The ape screamed, causing the entire world to shake with terror.