Tsem was looking at his friend one moment, sharing in a moment of relief. In the next moment, a drop of water splashed against his forehead. It was one of many tiny droplets seeping down from the roof above, but this one hit with force, and it drew his eyes upwards, towards the source. In the third moment, he saw the gargoyle.
It was a creature from stories, not a demonic beast, not a necromancer’s pawn, but a monster carried forth from old, old stories, legends. It descended down on them, stone cracking away from its skin, wings churning the air with a casual ease, an eyeless head cast with pale transparent skin and twisted meridians coursing black qi visible throughout its body. In its hand was a massive blade, a great sword as large as its entire body, made from blunted stone.
That third moment stretched out for a long time, Tsem unfurling his own wings from some base instinct. He opened his mouth to warn Kanuk, barely uttering a sound before the moment ended and that massive sword swung.
Kanuk sensed something was wrong at the last moment, bringing the shaft of his spear up in a guard. He didn’t see what was attacking him, but his form was perfect. It still wasn’t enough. The stone blade cleaved straight through his spear, swayed only by a half-second of resistance, throwing him head over heels as the blade struck his shoulder, almost certainly fracturing it.
The blow knocked Kanuk back out of the safe space near the stairs, back into the labyrinth. The golems hadn’t stopped shuffling the massive blocks, several of them pulling them into the air as Kanuk came to a stop. Tsem burned qi for speed, his wings beating with all the strength he could muster. He could see the intentions of the golems from the glyph rings alight around their arms. A section of wall was about to be dropped right on top of his friend.
For a split second, Tsem was sure he wouldn’t make it. For a split second, a part of him called for him to hesitate in his dash forward. He wasn’t sure if it was just the new ghalri raptor piece of him. No, he was he couldn’t just place it there, it wasn’t just that, it was his fear gripping him. He didn’t want to be crushed. He didn’t want to die here. He wanted time to follow his path, to become a protector. There wasn’t time though, no time for Tsem to train or cultivate himself, no time to grow himself into a more ideal version of himself. He needed to be there to protect Kanuk now. Tsem pushed forward, feet barely landing on the ground, half flying from his speed.
He gripped Kanuk by the torso, pulling him along as his friend just started realizing his situation, comprehending what he’d been hit by, not yet aware of the stone about to flatten him. Tsem didn’t slow, couldn’t slow, burning qi with a surge that only the adrenaline pumping through him would allow, so much, he thought he’d lose his cycling breath. He pulled free from beneath the stone, thrown from his loose grip on the ground by the impact as it landed inches from his heel.
In the next moment, at that brief point where Tsem was throwing himself back up from the ground, he saw a blade sweeping for his head. There was no anticipation of the attack, no reading of its tells. He didn’t see a thing until it was already too late. It was going to crush his head to splinters…until it pitched up.
The grand blade broke into the stone wall at his back, just above his head, chipped stone shrapnel cutting out in every direction from the impact. Tsem landed on his feet, ignoring the bit of stone that had embedded itself in his lower back. He burned more qi for more speed, his eyes trying to go everywhere at once. If he could have burned that qi to somehow widen his vision, take more in, he would have.
As it was, Tsem could see the gargoyle, its thin almost gangly limbs stretching as it made to swipe back with its blade. He could also see Kanuk, bladebear hair coving him thickly, hollow boartubko bone spikes sticking out from left elbow, his arm still following through from the massive uppercut he’d just landed to knock the gargoyle’s arm high. His hand was covered in cracked, broken golden scales. The force of the blow should have shattered the monster’s arm, instead the gargoyle had barely shifted, its arm, seemingly so thin, was completely unharmed.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
The backwards blow came and Tsem managed to duck fast enough to step under. He flapped his wings backwards, putting distance between him and the gargoyle on instinct, putting himself behind Kanuk by chance. He realized what he’d done, cursing at himself. Stepping behind his friend wasn’t what he was supposed to do. That wasn’t what his instinct should be. He wanted to be a protector, not someone who forced their senior, their injured senior, to face the danger they couldn’t stand against.
There was no time to correct himself, the gargoyle was taking to the sky. Tsem watched it, watched the casual comfort, the grace it held in the air. Anger rose in him, a desire to challenge, to beat it in the air. It wasn’t unreasonable, not entirely. The ground they stood on wasn’t safe. The monster they faced didn’t need to kill them itself.
“Left?” Kanuk shouted, unsure, waving his infused arm in the air in desperation. “We need to move!”
There was no knowing where the golems would drop the next cubes. They couldn’t afford to take their eyes from the gargoyle, couldn’t search for the telltale signs of glyph circles lighting up. The ground wasn’t safe. Tsem jumped onto his friend’s back, locking his legs around his hips, his arms under shoulders. He moved qi into his wing meridian as much as he could, steadying his breath against panic, moving his qi, watching the gargoyle’s motions. “Jump!”
Kanuk did just that despite his surprise. Tsem beat his wings, taking inspiration from the gargoyle’s expert, silent flight. He wasn’t quite able to achieve those motions the same way, wasn’t quite capable of true flight, but he didn’t need to be. Kanuk was strong, incredibly so now that he had the bladebear infusion active. They soared into the air, and Tsem just needed to add on more fuel to their speed and direct them.
The next moments were not easier. Massive blocks of stone whipped through the air held by even larger golems. Tsem shifted his wings this way and that, having to speed past death he could only somewhat see from the edges of his vision. The gargoyle, far more agile in the air, came for them with its blade. It took every scrap of concentration Tsem had to keep them airborne, so, it fell to Kanuk to fend off the blow.
Kanuk clenched his teeth at the approaching figure, grabbing Tsem’s leather net off him, and tossing it at the gargoyle. He didn’t have the skill that Tsem had developed through long weeks of hunting with it, but the gargoyle was confident in its overwhelming strength and the heavy sand Esa had put inside the edges ensured the net opened. It crashed over the approaching monster.
Tsem nearly let out a victory call, a breath of relief. He’d originally adopted the net for use against a flying demonic beast, and it was quite effective here too. The monster fell, the graceful cadence of its flight interrupted, impeded for long seconds. He should have known things wouldn’t be so easy though. The black qi visible inside the gargoyle surged out, rotting the durable interella leather like it wasn’t even there. The gargoyle was back on their trail before they knew it.
The time was still invaluable, enough for Tsem to move them with his wings, setting them in a desperate downward descent towards where he knew the balcony was. The golems set their blocks down, glyphs lighting up to indicate their next targets.
It became clear they couldn’t quite make it out in the air. They’d covered a lot of ground. Tsem was impressed just how much. His wings did come from the jing, the highly potent remainders of self from countless ghalri raptors. He should have expected he’d be fast in the air. A part of him, the demonic beast part no doubt, surged with accomplishment. His qi was gone though, maybe a scrap remaining, depleted rapidly to keep himself and another in the air with his poor newborn technique.
The moment they landed, the gargoyle was on them, a spinning tornado of giant stone blade and black qi. Tsem did everything he could to take the blow, diving away, burning qi for durability. He would have died even so if not for Kanuk. The cultivator pulled from his connection with his pinfish gloves hard, coating his whole body in the golden scales. Pulling so much, Tsem was frightened for his friend, frightened he’d lose his hold and become a werebeast himself.
Kanuk’s scales withered away from his body, the gargoyle’s qi enough in spots to burrow even further, into his skin, his flesh. Tsem’s senior hacked from the blow, pushed back and grievously hurt. He held the monster’s gaze again until it took back to the air. Moments after, his head slumped slightly, clearly fighting to remain in the realm of wakefulness.
Tsem leant him his arm, shuffling his friend onwards to the balcony. It was so close. If only he’d been a little stronger, had a little more qi, known how to use his wings better, they would have made it out without Kanuk being injured. As it was, blocks were coming down again and Tsem had no idea where they would fall. He could only move forward and hope.
As soon as the blocks slammed into position, the gargoyle would fly back in. Tsem pushed his body hard despite how tired he was already. They had to make it out.
The blocks slammed down, Tsem not even glancing at them. They’d already be dead if they had been unlucky. The path out was still open, still there, so close. A blade swung for his nape, Tsem could hear its whistle in the air. He kept moving forward. Safety was so close. The gargoyle landed behind him, then his knee hit up against a railing, and Tsem rolled with it, dragging Kanuk, whose eyes had what almost looked like a film over them, along beside him.
In the air, Tsem spun himself quickly to cushion his injured friend’s fall. They landed and his head struck something hard. He pushed himself up for a moment and then collapsed back, his vision going blurry then black.
