The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage

[29] Monsters

Bjorn watched as the tiger demon knelt in front of Tanisha. Everyone seemed to have some reverence for what was going on. Even the sound of the fire seemed to grow quieter in anticipation for what was to come. Tanisha looked to have some reservation now that it was time to choose. Bjorn could see the conflict play out across her tired face, but she never broke eye contact with the demon.

Tanisha bit her lip then asked. “Wait, how will this effect Bjorn or the Familiar Bond?” 

Joha seemed to smile at that. “It shouldn’t have any bearing on either. Once the maya is expelled from your core it won’t travel into the bond you have with anyone. I am not a patron of Bjorn, nor has he used the smoking pipe to create the proper maya channels. The only way it would affect him at all would be if he already had the proper channels for Higher Plane energies.”

“Bjorn.” Failsafe stated in a panicked tone in Bjorn’s head. “Break the familiar contract.”

“What? Why?” Bjorn asked as he looked at his other head.

“Bjorn your core has been trying to imitate Higher Plane energy since you were born.” Failsafe screamed. “Break the contract.”

“Wait but that was aether this is a completely different type of energy, right?” Bjorn questioned.

Bjorn looked at Tanisha who was taking a deep breath. She sat up straighter and he could tell she had come to a decision. 

“Bjorn. Cut the bond.” Failsafe screamed.

“If I do what will happen to Tanisha?” Bjorn asked. “Our bond is stabilizing her mana, right? If I cut it and he introduces maya into her chaotic core, will it cause problems?”

Failsafe is quiet for a single heartbeat. “It might kill her.” He said softly. “But if that stuff is introduced into you while your mana core is as it is now, it will kill us. Bjorn, we are a long way from level 410. If we die, that’s it.”

Bjorn looked at Tanisha; the scene played out in slow motion as adrenaline coursed through his body. He felt the familiar bond and its connection to Tanisha. It would be so easy to cut and to let her die so he could live. He felt the bond with his mana, the trust, the emotions, the pride and the love Tanisha put into it and to him. 

All he could think about was the last memory he felt in his first life. He was a mage of incomprehensible power and he wept  for a kingdom burning and even for his enemies all around. Yet in those final moments he chanted a spell that would have saved those too weak to save themselves. He failed, he died, and he had his chance to live again. He wouldn’t kill Tanisha to save himself not now, not ever.

“I am ready.” Tanisha stated.

Failsafe screamed. “Bjo…”

Everything went dark.

“What happened? Run. Everyone run.” Martin screamed.

The gate was gone and beyond it was not more forest, there was no blue sky, or rivers. The land was dead as far as the eye could see. The sky was broken, fractured like a stained-glass window as lightning, that was frozen in place, hummed with perverse power. 

Worst of all was the monster that stared back at them with furious alien eyes. Its long body suspended on many multi jointed legs each ending in a knife-like point. Its jaws clicked as it screeched in an unholy chorus. The boy with sandy brown hair saw it only for a moment before he turned to flee. He ran into Jiri who was frozen in place and the two tumbled to the ground. The creature drew closer, and Martin quickly ran to them and helped them up to their feet.

“What are you two doing? Let's go.” Martin yelled.

Pavel was already ahead of them, and they didn’t have more than a heartbeat before the monster would be upon them. Its many jointed legs sliced into the forest after the boys. It thumped and clicked as it drew closer. The only reason it hadn’t caught up was because it was hard for it to find big enough paths for it to fit between the trees. 

The boys ran as fast as they could and quickly caught up to and passed Pavel who was the slowest and grew tired the fastest. He tripped on a root and plummeted to the ground in a heap.

“Keep going.” Martin yelled as he stopped.

The boy with sandy brown hair and Jiri listened to him and kept going. The boys only looked back for a second and saw not one, not two, but now dozens of monsters crawling through the brush. No two monsters were the same species and each one was a terrifying amalgam of nightmare and flesh, chittering carapaces, claws and limbs too short or too long.

Howls, cries and screams rang throughout the forest in a cascade of death. The boys broke through the last bush thinking they had made it only to realize the wall lay before them. Impossible to climb and too late to run around, all they could do is wait for the monsters to come. The bushes rustled and they closed their eyes and held out their hands in surrender.

“Guys hold on to me.” Martin yelled.

Jiri and the boy with sandy brown hair opened their eyes, tears streamed down their faces in both relief and panic. Martin held one of Pavel’s arms over his shoulders and helped him run. The two other boys quickly ran into the huddle as Martin spoke the words of power for his wind magecraft. 

The chattering sound of the long-bodied monster drew closer, and it broke past the last tree with renewed vigor as if it knew what was about to happen. It closed the distance on the boys in less than a heartbeat right as Martin finished his last incantation. The creature raised its forward most scythe-like arm and swung right as the wind lifted the boys off the ground. 

The boys flew up over the wall and landed softly on the other side; they all fell to the ground, exhaustion finally taking the last of their strength. The boy with sandy brown hair looked up at the sky, his eyes no longer saw the aether, only the fractured sky above. It looked more like a festering wound than the clear blue he saw less than ten minutes earlier. It was all a facade, the peaceful world he thought he knew was a manufactured by the gate.

It took a few minutes for him to notice anything beside the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears. There was a scream from one of his friends. He looked up at the wall expecting to see something up there staring back at them. 

Could the creature climb? Did they need to run more? Where would they go, this was it. The boy thought to himself.

He didn’t see anything, so he sat up and saw crimson fluid paint the ground. Martin was bleeding and losing a lot of blood. The boys didn’t know what to do. They needed to get him to the healer and quickly. The last swipe of the long-bodied monster did find its mark and cut off one of Martin’s legs at the shin and halfway through the other.

“We have to carry him, get the other arm.” Jiri said.

“R-right.” The boy with sandy brown hair responded.

“Pavel, go find the healer.” Jiri yelled.

Pavel ran off and the two boys hoisted Martin over their shoulders as best they could. The screams of the monsters on the other side of the wall acted as a constant reminder that they weren’t safe. The alarm's spell began to blare, and the sound of panicking villagers soon filled the air. It wouldn’t even be fifteen minutes before the sound of fighting inside the village started. 

Martin was barely lucid by the time they made it to the creek. The two boys had to hold on tight to their friend as he started to slip down. As they crossed the bridge they saw a monster, this one spider-like but covered in porcupine quills. It was as big as a house and in the middle of combat with Petr, Martin’s dad and the town's magecrafter. 

Aetheric symbols slowly came into being orbiting in the air around Patr as the aether warped to his will. Blades of wind followed his hands as he swiped at the air. Each blade shot outward slicing into the monster but failing to penetrate deeply enough into the tough exoskeleton to cause fatal damage. Patr used aether and wind to move around the battlefield as he dodged the blade-like arms of the massive spider creature.

“Boys get inside.” A voice called from one of the nearby buildings. “Quickly.”

An explosion of aether shot off into the sky as the string of floating symbols around Patr finally finished forming. Patr pointed his hand at the monster and screamed in angry triumph as the world shuttered under the weight of his aether. A bright light tore through the spider monster, and it roared its final time before it slumped to the ground. 

The man in the building rushed out and grabbed the boys. He was one of the farmers and a dear family friend like most people in the village. He easily carried the three boys and ran back to his house. The monsters were still coming and the sound of more aether, more combat and more monsters never stopped. 

“What did I do?” The boy with sandy brown hair said to himself.