It was the golden eyes alight with joy at the slaughter of the humans of the village. It was the way he stomped a bloodied paw on the corpse of Briggs, as if he were nothing more than a footrest. This monster revelled in this. It wasn’t an instinct.
His mocking laughter set in stone for her that this was a choice. A choice to be cruel.
"Hi, Hadley. Still defending this shitpile of a village? You always had a hesitation to move on to bigger and better places." That smug, leering grin of the creature remained unbothered by the arrows and weapons pointed at him. "And now you're gonna die for this place."
Hadley's expression hardened into a focused fury, and she drew back the bow. "I didn't turn my back on the people that mattered. I didn't buckle to jeers and taunts."
The arrow snapped toward Felix, leaving a trail of blue particles in its wake. In a motion almost as fast, Felix twisted his body, swinging his claws mightily.
Everyone stared, and Hadley blanched as he held the arrow, currently piercing his palm. His grin never broke. It grew wider as he snapped the arrow and pulled the pieces out of his bloodied claw.
This one is definitely stronger.
Felix let out a barking laugh. "You should have taken my advice and left. You might have had enough time to flee, find a desperate man, pop out a few kids, and stretch out life a few years longer."
Neska slithered past Jurik, drawing the creature’s attention with an angry hiss. She directed her thoughts to him in the same way as the razor hawk. Vile creature. Why did you turn your back on humanity, Felix?
The wolf turned and gave her a mocking bow. “Looky here, an Awakened. Guess you figured out the more evolved of us are…connected.” The wolf tapped the side of his head for emphasis. No one dared to move–not her allies, nor the other wolves with bristling fur and menacing growls. Everyone remained rooted in place. A standoff that would end in guaranteed violence.
Felix pointed a claw at her. “But my, oh my. Are you naive or what? Must have just woken up, based on the way you talk. You all either die or you turn to the better side: ours. It’s gonna happen eventually, you know,” he added with a shrug.
You revel in the killing. You don’t hunt for meat. You hunt for a prize or for fun. She focused her gaze on him, the smugness in his posture. What drove you to them, Felix?
“Oh, the little lizard noodle wants to know why. Everyone wants to know why I picked the winning side, as they’re begging for their lives, choking on their own blood,” he sneered. “I'll tell you why. Getting killed the first time was a bitch. I remember exactly how I died, which makes me unluckier than most."
"Then, a bunch of fucked up mages decided that dying once wasn’t enough. They stuffed my soul into a goddamn monster and brought me back for more punishment." The wolfman tensed his claws, fur bristling. Hadley kept her bow raised, but she could barely pull the arrow, and her hand shook.
The wolfman continued his bitter diatribe. “I didn’t ask to be brought back. I didn’t ask to be turned into a conscript in a war against all the demons flooding out of Arivol.”
At least Neska had gotten his undivided attention and also raised uncomfortable questions that the wolf was more than happy to divulge. “But you know something? The first time I ate a human who threatened to kill me, right in the middle of their little freak show academy? It felt good. I savored that taste. You know the one, don’t you, Hadley?” he taunted with a slasher smile.
Hadley knew. Her chin dipped slightly, and her eyes were swimming in fear, while Felix continued. “Another boy from our shitpile village, who never trusted the Awakened. You know what the bitter truth is? The taste of meat, the power of the monsters…it’s too much to pass up. We’ll turn on you, someday or another. You’re just speeding up the process from pen to slaughter for your world.”
Warning. Corruption attempt initiated.
Neska felt a spike through her head, as if someone had driven a red-hot nail through her mind, and her whole body recoiled. A sensation flooded her mind in that instance, one of blood, that sweet, coppery scent she’d smelled before, when Risha would use it as an ingredient for her alchemy. Sometimes, her own.
And she wanted it. She felt her fangs extend on their own, and she glanced at Jurik, the compulsion to sink her venom into him. Felix laughed heartily with his barking laugh.
“That’s right. You feel it, too.That urge. You know the horrible truth, little snake? It just grows stronger over time. It doesn’t force you to act. It makes you want it. And you’ll want it all too eagerly. You, and that timid roadside snack,” he added with a growl, gesturing to Juni.
The timid mousegirl stood her ground, stones whirling around her head. “Never.”
“Better tell that to your friend. Look at her already, a few brave words, and she’s ready to turn on you.”
That urge to consume them flooded her mind. But the thought felt foreign. Malicious--not her own thought. Not a sovereign idea. Neska looked at the people who surrounded her, looked at the pile of meat that was Briggs, and wondered how strong she would get if she ate him.
No. I am stronger than that. She grasped at the unwavering bravery of the girl who stood in the path of the charging shadowcat. A phantom of her past who had chosen to face danger, rather than hide or run. She grasped at the strange message of her hex increasing without ever using it on someone else.
There was always a choice: an easy one, and the right one.
Never, vile creature.
Corruption attempt failed. Soul Resistance increased.
The urge dissipated like smoke in the wind. She turned her gaze back to Felix, raising her body as far as she could. You will never take me willingly, monster. She bared her fangs at him and hissed menacingly. A human sacrificed her life to bring me back. I will honor that sacrifice.
The wolven tilted his head, the mood still tense. “Huh. Well, that's surprising. Little snake is tougher than she looks! Well, for the next couple of minutes.”
The flood of bloodlust cut off as she focused her mind on defeating this foe. Jurik indicated he was Tier Two–more evolved, stronger, deadlier. She had limited offense options. They were still surrounded, and she couldn’t convey her plan to the others. [Rooting Hex] might not be able to get all the wolves, and the beast towering above them had claws sharp enough to slice through any entanglement with ease.
Other possibilities didn't do enough. [Blinding Venom] would only deal with one of them at a time, and by the time she got another shot off, they’d be surrounded. Attacking Felix directly would be a foolish mistake.
Unless...
She saw Juni gesturing with one hand behind her back, as if focusing on something. Neska could hear the shift of dirt and soil beneath their feet, as if she were preparing something. She recalled her abilities list--a window into her soul, something she would show only to someone she trusted.
Trust.
I know exactly what you're doing. Ready when you are, Juni.
Meanwhile, Jurik kept his sword poised and wore a hardened smile. “You forget the strength of humanity, Felix. All of us: human, fey-touched, earth-children, and many others. We endure. We persevere and resist temptation. You must realize that you’ve lost most of your pack here. You may defeat us, but the rest of your pack won’t survive. They’re losing, or retreating.”
The wolf snarled, turning toward the veteran. “Irrelevant. Their survival wasn’t a part of the plan. An individual sacrifices itself for the whole of the pack.”
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“Or just you.” Neska knew that the veteran was stalling, and Juni’s hand motions became more animated. She heard more dirt and gravel shifting, vibrating around them. One or two of the wolves glanced around, letting out a whine as if they sensed something wrong.
Whatever happened next, she trusted them both.
Felix snarled and extended his claws. “I tire of this. Shred them. Kill the humans until none are standing. But leave the Awakened alive. Oh, and the blonde rail post. They’re gonna get a taste of what humanity is really like. One way…or the other.”
He drew his tongue across his toothy maw, just as Juni closed her paw, and Neska felt the vibrations intensify.
The earth shifted all around them, and the ground collapsed around the wolves. The area around them remained intact, leaving them on a narrow peninsula of safety, while the wolves tumbled down into a deep pit. The ground sagged under part of a house, causing a corner to collapse into the burrow. Debris rained down on a few of the wolves as the dirt shifted, burying them.
Neska launched into action just as Jurik sliced his hand open and cast the molten bloodfire from the wound into the trench, igniting the entire depression in the deadly liquid. Yelps and shrieks of dying wolves soon followed. Wellik and Hadley launched their own attacks, protecting the flanks, along with the handful of guards gathered around them.
Neska’s [Mana Bolt] sailed through the air just as Felix leapt backward with one powerful pump of his legs. He barely avoided the collapse and subsequent roasting of his pack. The bolt narrowly missed, and he landed in a coiled pose, snarling. She followed up with a [Blinding Venom] attack that he turned his head just in time to avoid the worst of it. He wiped it off his face, the venom hissing as it ate at his fur.
He reared his head to let out a beastly roar, and all the wolves engaged elsewhere turned their heads, some of them badly wounded, and rallied to him across the width of the village. “Forget the slaughter. I want them!”
Jurik followed with a running leap, landing on the other side of the trench with Juni clinging onto his shoulder. Neska followed with a [Spring Scales] catapult over the trench of burning meat. Wellik and the others held their ground, rallying soldiers to their position.
Jurik held his fiery sword steadily. “You can try. But you won’t succeed.”
A low sound blazed in the distance, building in intensity. Neska could see a glow on the road far off, something that wasn’t monsters. Maybe more humans were on their way?
Neska bared her fangs at the werewolf. The remainder of the pack rallied to his position, one leaping at her and Juni. Both of them dodged out of the way, with Juni smashing it with her [Stone Shield] ability that left it stunned. The brief opening allowed Neska to launch a quick biting strike, then retreat before its muzzle snapped where her head had been a second before. Her venom seemed to be working faster, as its limbs began to tremble within a few seconds.
More of the wolves circled. One charged at Juni, and a second attacked from her flank. Neska shot out [Blinding Venom] to distract the one on the side, disorienting it while Juni launched a spike of stone at the first, killing it.
Neska felt the burning intensity of fury run across her scales. The notifications that had begun to accumulate on her Interface were a distraction, and she mentally shoved them away.
Jurik expertly dodged Felix, his sword clashing against claws that held their own against sharpened steel. He kicked out with a blow that caught the wolf in the leg. It only briefly flinched him, but it was enough to land a cut on the wolfman’s abdomen. Blood spurted briefly, but the fur had obstructed the blade enough to avoid the worst of the damage.
More wolves kept coming, but they were in battered shape. Neska cast out [Rooting Hex] to entangle them, delaying their entry into battle and scattering them. They nipped and chewed through the thrashing roots, but not before archers and swords found their mark on them with piercing arrows. Juni pelted through a line of them with her [Terra Spike], skewering them with the spiny rocks.
Juni’s primary attack might travel slowly, but when she combined it with immobilizing powers like her own roots, it overperformed immensely. However, her roots weren't durable; if they lived past this, she might have to invest more Vitality to strengthen them to resist damage.
The threat around them had decreased; most of the wolves were pinned or fatally wounded. Neska focused her attacks on Felix with mana bolts, while trying to land an entangling attack. Jurik had taken a wound on his shoulder that slowed his sword arm, and he was on the defensive, keeping the blade poised and burning brightly as Felix lashed out, alternating between both of them, keeping himself from being flanked.
The wolfman snarled in rage, and liquid shadow began boiling out of his hands after he hopped out of striking range. Within a second, Felix disappeared into a ball of shadows. Neska searched the cloud visually–he surely couldn’t disappear like that. A warning screamed in her head that he was far from gone.
Just like the shadowcat, it hid in the cloud, waiting to strike without warning. She shot a [Mana Bolt] in an attempt to illuminate through the roiling mist, but the light was snuffed out in an instant upon entering.
“Shadow Walk, keep your distance!” Jurik barked out. Neska used her [Spring Scales] to leap away as a set of razor-sharp claws swiped at her, narrowly missing. She landed in a poised coil, fangs bared and shooting another [Mana Bolt], to no avail. Jurik's blade sliced through the cloud but failed to deal damage.
Nothing could touch this monster. The vorpally sharp claws slashed out from the billowing shadow at Jurik, having shifted positions. He barely aligned his weapon to deflect the attack; the weapon nearly wrenched from his hands. A follow-up strike bowled him over from the force; his light armor saved him from the blow, but he was slow to rise to his feet.
Juni put herself between Jurik and the shadow, a spire of stone rising and shielding the two of them from the force of the blows. Claws scraping eerily against stone, fissures forming from the impact. The poor mousegirl looked positively exhausted, and Neska wracked her head frantically for an idea.
She couldn’t hit this foe. They couldn’t do nearly enough damage. Unless–
Vivi! Is the cloud surrounding him organic?!
It is not. It is mana-based, most likely.
Neska knew this was her only opportunity, and she would only get one chance. If I can heat fluids...I can heat this.
She focused every bit of her will, activated her [Ember Hex], and targeted the cloud. She felt the heat from her scales cool, then dip into a spine-chilling cold. She channeled every bit of energy that she could, slowly heating the cloud.
She heard a grunt of discomfort. Then, a surge of motion from the shroud, lurching toward her. Raking claws lashed out from the cloud of death, Neska already in motion with a sidewind to the right. The claws were denied purchase in flesh by Juni’s stony barrier, still active, just grazing her. The mouse girl was gasping for breath and nearly spent, yet her defenses held. Meanwhile, the cloud swerved erratically, and the mass of boiling vapors lunged after Neska again.
She kept her focus on the hex. She dodged with minute taps of [Coiled Strike], swerving from side to side. The claws trenched into the earth beside her, lashing out again and again from the shadowy mist, but hitting nothing.
Any single blow would cut her body in half. She kept her [Spring Scales] in reserve, using her [Coiled Strike] to juke, since it appeared to take far less energy.
The hex continued to culminate in strength. The grunt of discomfort grew into a pained growl. The boiling cloud began to glow a dull red, like flames obscured by smoke. A silhouette of the wolfman was just barely visible within. “How are you doing that, snake?! You are not human, but you possess their powers!” he screamed.
I am as human as I believe I am, Felix! she roared with all the ferocity of her soul that she could muster. She focused her will on heating the roiling cloud, raising the temperature, after overcoming some hidden thermal inertia. She could smell fur singing with a flick of her tongue, and heard Felix groaning from the overheating. The mist was growing brighter and no longer hiding his body as effectively.
Arrows sliced through the air, striking against the illuminated target. She saw Hadley strafing off to the side, firing arrows as fast as she could muster, teeth gritted in fury. All her prior fear was gone, now.
The cloud lunged toward Neska in a poorly veiled pounce. She triggered her [Spring Scales] to leap to the side, never taking her focus off her foe. All the while, the hex's effect continued to grow.
A flame erupted within the now ruddy cloud. The monster gasped, as if out of breath--or his lungs were searing from the overheated air. Within a second, the growl of pain became a scream. He attempted to leap at Neska; she dodged again, and again, barely managing to evade. She felt her vision wavering, but she held her focus.
Just…a little…longer!
Either this monster would drop his defense, or he’d incinerate within it. She saw him leap with stunning speed, but fatigue had finally sapped her, too slow to evade. She saw motion off to her right as Juni darted in, putting up a stone shield to cover her, acting as a barrier.
She and the mouse girl recoiled under the blow, saving them both, but they both tumbled to the ground. Neska kept the hex ignited, feeling the cold seeping in deeper.
The screams became high-pitched as the wolfman became engulfed in flame. The boiling mists evaporated in an instant. Felix, currently partially immolated in cherry red flames, faced her with panicked eyes and a gaping maw, filled with shock and fear. He rolled to the ground to put out the fire. His fur was burnt, and his flesh beneath charred, yet he still had strength in his words, screaming out a question.
“What are you?!” Felix coughed from scorched lungs, hacking and heaving.
I am Neska. Last survivor of my witch, Risha. And I will be the one who kills you! She could barely keep upright; she was utterly spent, and her whole body felt chilled to the point her bones ached. She could barely keep her head up, but she stayed upright, her defiance of this monster the only thing that kept her going.
Felix’s eyes went wide. “I’ll remember you for this, snake!” It was as if this name triggered a primal instinct within him. One of unfathomable terror, and his fur bristled. He gave a bewildered glance at his dead or dying pack, thrust himself up from the ground with one push of his claws, and ran.
Arrows followed him, but they could not catch the fleeing wolfman. Jurik staggered over to her and Juni, bleeding from his wounds, and knelt to check on them. “Wellik! I need the healers, they’re overexerted!”
Neska’s vision darkened as several lines of text appeared in her Interface. She didn’t grasp their meaning, other than one single Title that appeared before her consciousness faded.
Title Gained - Incorruptible: You withstood the corruptive influence of the Fallen, choosing your humanity over ferocity. +2 Soul, + 2 Endurance. This Title may Evolve depending on your actions.
The world winked out of existence.
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