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JULES
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Jules and Cyrus looked back in the direction the flung Soldiers came from. The crowd broke into a scattered rampage, and more horns blared again, and another body hurled through the forest canopy in their direction.
From the Shrine, wolves emerged and hunted down the closest prey to them. Villagers fell to violent ends left and right of Jules. The Hydromages abandoned their posts to intercept the wolves and Shrine, to defend whomever they could save.
“We’ve got to go!” Cyrus grabbed Jules’ arm and dragged him in the opposite direction.
Jules looked up and saw it again, and the beast charged straight at them. Without hesitation, he wrenched his arm free of Cyrus’ grip and placed both of his open palms on his friend's torso in strategic spots. His eyes—and concealed under his shirt, his Seal—lit up, and Jules invoked a Rune.
> « Air » [₹9,500 // ₹10,000]
A gust of wind launched Cyrus several yards away from the threat.
Jules spun around to fight the Warg, but was too late. Its antlers pierced his heart and collapsed a lung at once. Jules flopped and flailed with each of the beast's steps. It flung him off, and he crashed onto rocky soil.
Heal faster, get up. His vision faded around his peripherals. Dazed and slightly numb to the dull throbbing pain, Jules tried to lift his body, but only his head raised up. Paralyzed? No, it still hurts—
A pack of wolves approached him beside the Warg. The last thing Jules remembered before he died was feeling truly sorry for what had happened to Sloth and Greed. The torture he felt now, of wolves ripping his skin off with fangs and claws, everywhere, and all at once, surely paled in comparison to what they had experienced.
This pain, it's nothing short of what they endured, but at least my tormenters won’t be waiting to continue when I awake.
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CYRUS
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"We've got to go!" Cy grabbed Jules' arm and dragged him in the opposite direction.
You can't die here, Jules, not with everyone watching. Jules wrenched his arm free of Cy's grip. Jules, why are your eyes lit—
> « Air »
The Script launched Cy through the air. “Jules!”
Cy reached both hands out to grab his friend, but he flew farther and farther away. He struck the ground and gasped for air, desperate to replace what had just escaped his lungs. Gotta make sure Jules is OK. Cy felt his ribs and stomach to survey the damage first. Jules had good placement with that blast, didn’t damage me inside. He dragged himself to his feet, despite the shock to both his body and mind. Four wolves gnawed on Jules' corpse, and the Warg redirected its attention to Cy. It lowered its head and stamped one foot over and over. The wolves turned their attention to Cy as well. It's as if that Warg’s their master.
Blood dripped from their fangs and maws. Jules’ blood. Arrows pierced the wolves and Warg. Cy spun around. A team of five Soldiers blasted the beasts with round after round. The Royal Navy? Just behind them, several more Hydromages engaged with another group of wolves in close quarters combat. One man succumbed to a beast, and another whipped gashes into a wolf with some type of Air Script.
“Get out of here, kid,” a Naval Officer shouted at Cy. They felled the last wolf, and the Warg retreated.
“But my friend,” Cy whispered to himself.
“Son, that boy is…just run away!”
Another Naval Officer hurtled past them until its lifeless body struck a tree. This one didn’t yell as he flew by. Cy ran over to Jules’ body and tripped and fell to the ground. His face landed next to Jules’, which Cy didn't even recognize. He crawled over closer to examine Jules’ mangled body. Ribbons of flesh, exposed teeth and nasal cavity, and—
Steam. Shit, lots of steam. Someone grabbed Cy’s arm from behind. Threatened, he whipped around.
“Too dangerous to stay here, boy. Leave him and get to safety.” The Hydromage had an iron grip on Cy’s arm.
“Don’t touch me.” Guilt, fear, and anger flooded Cy and powered him with adrenaline.
"I said—"
> « Ice » [₹9,100 // ₹10,000]
Three ice shards materialized above Cy’s head, and he launched them at his newest enemy.
It yelped just before it died. The Hydromage swung around and stared at the dead wolf behind him. Would have ripped your throat out. “I can handle my own,” Cy said. The Hydromage glared at him, then released his grip and ran back into the ensuing chaos.
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[Pang! Elemental Control increased to Level 8.]
"Shut up!" Cy zipped his lips, and his System Notifications silenced. “Alright, Jules—He never saw you. So if you’re in there, if you can hear me, then you need to work as fast as you can.” Cy surveyed his surroundings quickly. No threats, or at least nothing coming our way right now.
He emptied his pack on the ground and took anything, everything, he could wrap Jules in to mask the steam. Cy wrapped Jules' face in his own shirt, and the morning sun warmed his barren back. "Doubt I can suffocate you, so you’ll have to deal with—”
Three more men raced by, shrieking and flying wildly through the air. One of them hit a tree and the other two rolled across the ground, but all three laid still. A guttural yell came from the direction of the main battle. All the surviving troops near Cy charged toward the shout. What. In the hell. Is that?
“Sorry, Jules.” Cy huffed and groaned, then lifted Jules just enough to drag his unconscious body. “Change of plans. Gonna take their advice and run for it.” He took one step, two steps, three steps, and then that white fox emerged from the bushes. It wagged its tail and looked from Cy to Jules, back and forth. Is it pointing at Jules? “I know you, from last night, right?” Cy didn't stop or alter his course. The heels of Jules' boots left two marks in the dirt. “You tried to save us then, too, huh?”
The fox nipped Cy’s hand.
“Ow! Damn, I guess not.” Cy shoved the fox away and continued his escape. The fox badgered him. It growled and even hissed at him until Cy came around the corner of a large rock formation. Oh shit—you were helping me.
A team of five squatting Hydromages cowered behind the boulders. Cy was suddenly aware of the blunt force trauma from Jules’ Script, and how much it would slow him down in combat. The Hydromages motioned for Cy to join them, but paused when they saw Jules’ body. The corpse pulled its ribbons of flesh back together slowly and stitched him back to life. They watched the steam rise from Jules, and before they could fit the pieces together, Cy dropped Jules to the ground with a heavy thump.
> « Ice » [₹7,100 // ₹10,000]
Cy charged the men while an ice shield and spear, still forming from the atmospheric moisture. Both he and the fox roared out battle cries. One man fled cover, another one froze in fear, but three gathered their wits and drew their weapons, and the forces clashed. Avoid the vitals.
Cy pierced one man’s shoulder with his icy spear. The fox moved like lightning, quick and in zigzags. It leapt at one attacker’s throat and ripped it out, then hopped onto the man paralyzed in fear to dispose of him, too. Cy deflected a sword’s blow with his shield, though it cracked instantly.
> « Air » [₹6,300 // ₹10,000]
The Rune pushed the fourth assailant to the ground, on his back. Stealing your move, Jules. Before Cy could immobilize the soldier, the fox ripped his throat out as well.
“No!” Cy kicked at the fox, but he was too late. Enlarged pupils blocked most of its crimson irises, which matched the bloodstained white tufts of fur around its jowls.
The first soldier, whose shoulder he’d stabbed, whose life he'd spared, clawed the ground and back away from them. “Run and tell, and the fox will find you.” Cy grabbed Jules again and dragged him away from the fight. The fox growled at the cowering survivor until Cy was a safe distance, then it ran after him and Jules.
“A Sin! He’s a Sin!” The Hydromage shouted at his comrades. Wrath consumed Cy. That dirty little motherfucker. In an order to the fox, he jerked his head back at the man, but it was already on its way. “He’s controlling all these beasts! If we attack him, they’ll all stop! Get the Iron Mai—”
Gurgles filled the air before they fell to silence.
“Fuck, Jules. Fuck!” Cy glanced around while he dragged even faster. No coverage here, or there, or there. Three men see me, now all running off. Probably getting more. The white fox, now dyed crimson in blood all over, returned to Cy’s side. Well, Jules’ side. “Fox, I’m tired. Ryoku's running thin. Bark once—Wait, do you bark? What do foxes say? Who cares—Bark once for yes, bark twice for no.”
“Ruff.”
“Are you here for Jules?”
“Ruff.”
“Are you here for me?”
“Ruff ruff. Ruff.”
“OK, I’ll take that one as a maybe. Can you heal him faster?”
“Ruff.”
“OK great—Can you fucking do it!?”
“Ruff ruff.” Voices grew louder and closer.
“Well, why the hell not? Right, can’t answer that. OK, think think, can we escape?”
“Ruff Ruff.”
“So we fight?”
“Ruff.” Cyrus swore and dropped Jules to the ground with another thump.
“Wake up, Jules!” Cy kicked him in the ribs. Jules groaned. Cy squatted down and lightly slapped Jules’ face, which had mostly healed. “Come on, come on.”
“Over there!”
Cy looked up to see an entire platoon of Soldiers, a mix of Hydromages and Navy, march towards them. They brandished torches, pikes, spears, and bows. Their eyes and tattoos lit up, ready to invoke their Scripts. Cy pulled his Ryoku crystal out of his bag and fumbled for Jules’ and Liam’s in Jules’ bag. Damn, theirs are empty. Still got some in mine, though.
> « Exchange » « Earth » [₹3,850 // ₹10,000]
Cy raised a hand. His tattoos and eyes lit up a dull shade of green. He drew Ryoku from the crystals, and a crude wall of dirt and roots and plants raised around them in a large semicircle. He cut the Script off when the wall reached near ten feet. Again, he grabbed Jules and dragged him. The fox scampered away towards the wall’s edge farthest from the soldiers. Damn coward.
Oh, Cy. 'Become an Alter or die trying,' what a foolish thing to say.
The soldiers' shouts interspersed with loud thuds as they banged on the makeshift wall. Not gonna last long, nowhere to run. Where the fuck is Liam!?
“Wake up!” Cy repeated over and over.
The yells shifted to growls and guttural yells from men and beasts alike. In a flash, Cy saw a ball of fire launched over the wall, headed straight for him. Wait, that’s not an attack—
What’s little Fox up to? And why is it…
“Hey, watch out, no!” The fox rained from the sky and landed on Jules, torch in mouth, and dumped the fire on Jules’ body. Cy dropped him and tried to pat out the sizzling fire as it roasted Jules, dead or alive. The fox bit Cy again, much harder than the nip before. Demon spawn!
A massive explosion burst open Cy’s wall of earth. Clunks of dirt, roots, and vines showered down around them. Through the dust and haze, the Soldiers stormed through the breach.
> « Ice » [₹3,050 // ₹10,000]
Cy created another spear. He couldn’t create another shield, and this spear was much shorter; his Ryoku usage was at its limit. He stepped between the men and Jules.
“I will protect my brother’s life with my own,” Cyrus threatened.
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16
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