From higher up the hill, where they’d found the trail again, she could see farther into the valley and make out more of the terrain. The hills that flanked the valley were high and fairly steep. The river undulated back and forth, like a great snake stretching the length of the valley floor. The trees were thicker along the course of the river, and thinned to clumps and clusters closer to the hills. Darkness shrouded the far end of the valley, but the layout of the zone made it pretty clear that was where the heart of the challenge would be. It was also the way Royce’s trail was leading them.
Lulu’s nose led them along the river. The going was tough among the thicker trees, especially where the trail strayed close to the riverbank, where the ground alternated between slick mud and treacherously undercut and crumbling terrain. The deeper shade made Char and Declan jumpy. Every breeze strong enough to make branches sway had them raising weapons and eying the shadows as they moved.
The constant wariness wore on them. They’d started with banter, but didn’t take long to fall into tense silence as they walked. Icy fingers of dread ran down Char’s spine, and she was starting to think there may be some outside influence working on them, the way the Lurking Dread had. Before she could speak up to warn Declan, her Foresight twinged, and an abrupt change of where her next footstep landed saved her from stepping on the same icy patch that took Declan’s feet out from under him and sent him sliding toward the river.
He threw his arms wide, trying to catch himself, and his rear end landed hard in the mud. The bank was steep here, and the mud was slick and scattered with icy spots. He flailed and tried to stop his slide, but he had too much momentum.
Char lunged forward to grab him, but Lulu was closer and faster. She clamped down on the back of Declan’s shirt and pulled him up the bank, all four paws digging deep in the mud to find purchase. Char grabbed his arm as soon as he was in reach and helped him to his feet.
Once he was steady, Char let his arm go and crouched to look at the ground. “You good?” she asked.
Declan took stock of himself and nodded. His voice was a little shaky, but it firmed up as he spoke. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m OK. My tailbone may be a little bruised, and my pride took a hit, but other than that, I’m good.” He rubbed Lulu’s head and added, “Thanks for the save.”
Lulu chuffed.
“She says you’re welcome.” She had to hide a smile. The image Lulu sent her had actually been one of a clumsy puppy tripping over its paws. She tried to send back disapproval, but she was sure her amusement had undermined the message. “What do you think the temperature is?”
His eyebrows crowded together in confusion over the seeming non sequitor, but he answered, “Uh… I don’t know, somewhere between 60 and 70, maybe. Cool, but comfortable. Why?”
“Then why is there ice?” She pointed to a slick patch of frozen mud about as big around as a dinner plate.
“Aw, hell,” Declan gripped his daggers tighter, and his feet moved into a combat stance as his gaze scanned the trees around them. “Is that from Royce?”
“I don’t think so. It doesn’t feel like him. It might just be part of the challenge.”
“Heck of a coincidence.”
Char exhaled loudly, “Yeah. It might be a coincidence, but the Wendigo is sure to capitalize on it.”
“I haven’t seen anything moving since we got here, besides the shadows. No animals, no birds. There were the crickets, but other than that, this whole valley feels like it’s been abandoned. And have you noticed? No cutouts. Not a single car or out-of-place building.”
Char glanced up at him, “No, actually, I hadn’t noticed. Good catch.” She rubbed her chin and stood, considering the icy patches and the river. “Let's stay back from the bank as much as possible. Lulu, keep that flame breath revved up and ready, we may need it.”
They didn’t have to go far before the shadows came to life once more, but this time, they had more substance. They bit with icy teeth and ripped with claws like icicles. Char danced through them, her blade charged with crackling lightning. She kept an eye on Declan as she carved through the half-formed shapes of beasts that melted away into amorphous puddles of darkness.
The skill crystal had given him quite a skill boost. Where before he’d been all enthusiasm, now he struck and parried with the grace of a skilled fighter, both blades working together like a duet of steel.
Lulu ranged ahead, her flames like armor against the icy daggers of the shadow creatures. She searched for the next orb and breathed fire on large clumps of shadows to thin them out for her companions.
They had to move quickly; the shadows still sapped their resources with every touch, but the solidity they needed to wield claws and teeth made them easier to wound in return. It was a trade-off, but it didn’t change too much, other than leaving Char and Declan bloody and their clothes torn and ragged by the time they found the next orb.
This one was larger than the last, and it took two blasts of Arc to destroy it. When the first Arc failed to do the job, the shadows went wild, converging on Char and intent on destroying her. Declan and Lulu were pushed to their limits, keeping the shadows at bay while Char formed the spell again and fired it off.
Your mastery of Arc has improved
from Beginner to Novice.
—————————————————————
Special Challenge progress made:
Destroy the sentinel orbs.
2/3 destroyed.
————————————————————
Second wave defeated.
Experience gained.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
Out of breath, they sat to rest and regain their energy as they had after the first fight. Char played with her lightning mana, thinking about how she’d modified her healing spell and wondering if she could do something similar with her lightning. The large numbers of shadow creatures they’d faced might have been easier to manage with chain lightning or some other area of effect spell. She didn’t have the spare mana to experiment with it, but she took a few minutes to visualize the pattern for Arc in her mind and study it, trying to understand it better.
Her thoughts meandered, though. The spell was too abstract, and they had more immediate issues. If the Wendigo was still in the valley, if it hadn’t just passed through and out the other side, then it would be waiting for them. If it were her being pursued, she’d set up where she could pinch her pursuers between her and the zone boss. She’d wait until they were deep in combat, focused on the threat before them, then hit them from behind.
But she didn’t know how the Wendigo’s mind worked. It was a force of nature, driven by hunger. Would it scheme, use tactics, or would it just see a meal and attack? She shook her head. No, it started preparing Royce as a host long before the Aldevari showed up. It plans. It schemes. It targets weakness. It refused to stand and fight her when it was weak from the ritual.
“It’ll ambush us when it thinks our guard is down,” she muttered.
“What’s that?” Declan asked, still breathing hard from the fight.
“The Wendigo. If it's still in the valley, it’s not going to give us a stand-up fight.” She rubbed her face, smearing blood across it, then looked at her hands in disgust. She had a little mana left, so she cast Mend Other and put her hand on Declan’s shoulder to help him recover faster. “It was weak from the ritual, and it’ll want to eat, but there’s no food here. It might have gone through and out the other side, counting on the challenge to slow us down, or it might be waiting to hit us when we’re occupied with the shadows or the zone boss, thinking to use us as its first meal.”
“How would it even know we’re following it?”
“Because it smelled my bloodline on me. That part of me is pushing me to hunt the bastard down. I like to think that I’d still be hunting it even if I didn’t have this bloodline, that I’d still be working to put it down like a rabid dog, but honestly, I don’t know how much of this is me, and how much is the Thunderbird.”
“Char, I don’t have any Thunderbird in me… I don’t think. But I still want to hunt this thing down and end it before it gets any stronger. I think it’s less about the Thunderbird and more about you being a good person doing the right thing. And so far, what I’ve seen, and what you’ve told me about the legends, listening to that part of yourself isn’t necessarily a bad thing.” He paused and bit his lip, considering his next question, then decided to just ask, “You keep talking about it like it’s something foreign. Is that what it feels like, like something controlling you?”
Char shook her head, “No. It feels…” She watched the trees, trying to stay alert as she thought about the urges and drives that she’d noticed after her bloodlines had awakened. She couldn’t remember any of them prompting her to act in a way she wouldn’t normally act; it was just more of a shove than a nudge. As far as she could tell, she was still herself, still the same stubborn, independent woman who lived too much inside her own head, who loved trying new things, who was fascinated by thunderstorms, who could spend an entire day curled up with a good book, and who’d made a habit of putting herself between bullies and their victims. “It feels like me, only… more. Like some of the things that make me who I am have been distilled down into more intense versions of what was already there.”
“Well, there you go then. Think of it as being Char 2.0, the new, improved version with scary lightning powers.” He flashed a grin at her, then turned back to scan the trees. “I’ve just about got all my health back. You ready to move on?”
“Yeah. I’m still low on mana, but it’ll be full by the time we find the trail.” She checked the sky and added, “Besides, I really don’t want to be stuck here after the sun goes down.” The darkness seemed to have lessened even more after the second orb was destroyed, but it was still dim, and the shadows were even darker in contrast.
They didn’t have to backtrack as far to find the Wendigo’s trail this time. Once again, it led straight towards the back of the valley. “This feels too easy. Too straightforward. Almost like he wants us to follow his trail.”
“How did he get past the shadows?” Declan asked. “That’s been bugging me.”
Char shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. We’re working without a manual, here.”
“Great. A new Age of Discovery, this time with horrible face-eating monsters.” Declan snorted. “Good thing I’m learning to fight. Something tells me a career in zoology in this new world is going to require a very different skill set.”
“Try being a truck driver in a world with no trucks.” Char studied the forest ahead of them as they walked. In the dim twilight, it felt ominous. She didn’t like the idea of dealing with an ambush by walking straight into it. They knew the Wendigo was out there, and she was pretty certain he was laying a trap, but it was hard to bypass a trap when they didn’t know where it was or what form it would take. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the sword, and she tried to force herself to loosen her grip and relax.
Prickles ran down her spine as they found the edge of the orb’s field of shadow creatures. This time, she could feel the Wendigo’s taint on them, and the lightning in her core crackled in response. The shadow creatures were more solid. They took the forms of animals and monsters. Snarling wolves and slinking cats made of shadows and ice prowled out of the forest on all sides. They were coated in ice, blue-black with the Wendigo’s touch.
A shadowy boar was the first to attack. It charged forward, its icicle tusks lowered. The rest of the horde followed. Lulu burst into flames and hit the boar from the side a second before it would have taken Declan’s legs out from under him. And the battle was on in a whirl of chaos as blades and claws flashed.
Char’s blade crackled with lightning as she drove it between two icy armor plates and into the spine of a lunging wolf. She swayed to the side to avoid the swiping claw of a mountain lion. She could smell the rot and feel the chilling bite of winter with every attack that landed. Her Primal Grace gift let her flow between attacks and anticipate her bestial foes. Her Foresight gave her an instant of warning before icy teeth would have plunged into her, but Declan didn’t have her advantages.
Blood flowed from gashes on the young man’s thighs. More wounds bled across his back. His skill with his daggers had improved, and the darting weapons suited his lanky frame and long reach, but they were still only daggers. They were short and did nothing to hold back his opponents. He was giving as good as he got. Shadowy beasts dissipated around him as he landed killing blows, but he was getting worn down, cut by cut.
Char fought her way to his side and put her back to his. She cut down a lunging shadow hyena, then used her left hand to form the pattern for Mend Other. She pressed her hand against his back, sending the spell into him to seal up his wounds, but she couldn’t spare too much mana. Keeping her sword imbued burned through her mana, and every touch of the shadow creatures drained her further.
Lulu ranged around them, her fire breath thinning the press of monsters, and her glowing hot claws and teeth cut through the ice armor like it was made of wrapping paper. If not for her, they would have been overwhelmed in short order.
Char fired off a bolt of her Arc spell, thinning a path for them to move deeper. Their only relief from the onslaught would be to retreat or destroy the orb. Standing in one place would only get them killed. She was pleasantly surprised to find that it used less mana and was easier to cast now that it had ranked up. It was still a mana hog of a spell, though, and with the other drains on her energy, she would need to be sparing with it.
The Wendigo had somehow influenced these shadows, but she had no way of knowing if he’d tainted them and moved on, or if he was still waiting. She had to keep something in reserve to deal with him.
Declan cried out as icy claws shredded his right arm. He tucked the limb in close and fought one-handed, but the press of shadow creatures was unrelenting. Char used more mana to heal him. The monsters were more vicious, more aggressive than before, and every wound drained more resources. Even with her high stats, she was feeling it. Declan had to be getting close to his limit by the time they spotted the orb, but he pushed on without complaint.
This orb was larger than the previous two, and a dark form stood behind it, one long-fingered hand resting atop it. The antlers sprouting from his head removed any doubt of who it was. His elongated muzzle looked grotesque on a mostly human face, and he grinned to show off every sharp tooth in it.