CHAPTER SEVENTY FIVE

  Below a sky sparsely populated by drifting clouds, a diffuse sea of shifting shadow wraiths slowly came back to their senses.

  Shook off the lingering feelings of shock and lethargy, and firmed up their runny silhouettes, which had begun to smear like watercolor. The events that’d left them in such a sorry state still firmly rooted in their minds. So much so that, the vast majority turned to lift their gazes skyward the second they regained their mental faculties.

  Each waiting for the other shoe to drop. In the end, they didn’t have to wait long.

  The draconic figure which abruptly punched a ragged hole through the clouds, as dragon-like as they came, for a thing made entirely of paper talismans. Which was to say, not very. Although, if the way the sea of wraiths collectively scrambled for cover was anything to go by, it remained plenty provocative for all its shortcomings. Lack of scales or notable facial features foremost among them.

  It didn’t matter. It’s appearance still had the intended effect. The dragon roared. Or it would have, had it been able. Instead it mutely went through the motions—swelling it’s chest, thrusting it’s head forward, nearly unhinging it’s jaw in a show of faux fury. The wave of aura which followed barely a half step behind really helping to sell the performance. Ultimately making up for its diminutive size. There was only so much one could do with a thousand talismans after all.

  The sea of wraiths, thankfully, responded in kind. Congregating across several points in space. Shape shifting to form a number of draconic facsimiles of their own.

  The natural instincts of wraith type enemies to join together when the threat posed feels larger than any one of them can handle alone. The inclination of shadow creatures on the whole, meanwhile, to shamelessly plagiarize.

  With flaps of their impressive wingspans, the bevy of dragons soared high. Out numbered and outmatched, the smallest of the penumbral sky-tanks nearly ten times it’s size, the paper dragon didn’t falter for even an instant. The two forces collided with a surprisingly hollow thump—carrying nowhere near the visceral impact you’d expect—sending both sides careening from the skies.

  It was then that the brutal midair melee kicked off in earnest.

  Sharpened paper talons raked against pebbled, purple-black hide. The terrible gashes left behind venting pressurized streams of shadow. Meanwhile claws and fangs ravaged the paper dragon from all sides. Tearing away large chunks of its smooth exterior—talismans breaking apart to flutter on the wind. The longer the fight went on, the more of its hollow insides were revealed for all the world to see. Their short tussle resembling of falling black comet with a tail of confetti trailing after.

  And while it couldn’t be said the poor construct gave as good as he got, no one could deny that he fought till the bitter end.

  The two forces impacted the ground with yet another hollow thump. The paper dragon, barely hanging onto its shape by a thread at this point, burst apart. It’s remains fluttering skyward to join the long procession of paper slips trailing in its wake. The wraiths parted in much the same way. Faceless cloaks shooting back into the air, only to find—surprise surprise—that they’d somehow landed themselves right where they’d have convened regardless, now that all the immediate threats had been dealt with.

  At the foot of the shimmering portal connecting their two realms.

  Convenient.

  As the surviving wraiths flocked to their previous positions, as more of their kind filed in through the breach to reinforce their numbers, as the rather notable number of talismans permeating the air were ignored in their entirety, up, way up, cleverly hidden behind the swell of cloud cover, a young man, more of a baby really, flashed a gap-toothed smile.

  It was something he’d had to learn the hard way. This was whilst slogging through an especially grueling C Grade dungeon. One he and his party had only entered in the first place to escape an even worse fate.

  It’d been themed around all those lovely things that go bump in the night. A haunted house, with an infinite number of dusty rooms, the entire place overrun with ghosts, ghouls, and, you guessed it, wraiths. And Richard’s injured party without a priest, exorcist, or even seer class among them.

  It’d been rough going to say the least. In the month they spent trapped there, he swore he couldn’t have slept more than nine hours. In that time however, he came to realize something.

  Be it collectively, or individually, while wraiths in particular never forgot a slight—making them an utter pain to deal with, as they’d simply phase through anything you’ve thrown at them before—once they deemed something harmless, in their minds at least, it stayed that way until proven otherwise. This hadn’t been especially useful back then, as there were only so many tricks one could pull on nine hours of sleep and severely limited resources, but here?

  Richard surveyed the teeming ravine from on high. A reimagining of his crude flying construct holding him steadily aloft.

  Very intentionally he’d made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that the swarm at large had little to fear from the limp slips of paper which now littered the skies.

  The very same that would occasionally break off from one or more of his constructs.

  The very same he’d been strategically discarding all throughout the fight.

  The fan, his wings, the dragon. All in a bid to proliferate his little surprise packages as far and as wide as they would go. His efforts aided by careful manipulations on his part. He doubted the swarm had even noticed that, despite the fact his discarded talismans had been fluttering about for sometime now, not a one of them had actually alighted upon the ground.

  No, instead he’d spread them out very carefully. Very intentionally. Now, all that was left to do was…

  Richard snapped his fingers, and the world exploded with a thunderous report. Super charged detonations going off simultaneously. Decimating entire large swathes of the enemy with brief flares of crimson light. Ultimately clearing a straight path directly towards the rent bridging their two realms.

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  Entirely free of obstacles.

  His vision inundated with so many kill notifications he could barely see two feet in front of him, Richard stepped out into open space, planted his foot onto a stepping talisman, and launched himself towards the vacant portal far below.

  Split second burns turning his simple leaps into a poor man’s teleportation, he crossed the distance in seconds, and ran headlong into the breach. A swirling cocoon of talismans primed and ready for whatever the other side had in store.

  +++

  The biting chill of what felt like autumn playfully nipped at noses and fingertips.

  The added padding of multiple pairs of jeans and hoodies keeping much of the cold at bay, though the lack of a fire was felt especially hard by Marlene and the children. Marlene because of the recent blood loss. The kids because, well, because they were kids. Not that any of them opened their mouths to complain, mind you.

  In fact, but for the constant fidgeting of Denise, as she fussed over Marlene to an almost obsessive degree—readjusting her headrest every five minutes, when she wasn’t offering a steaming plate of food, or rubbing down her arms in an attempt to transfer some warmth—the general atmosphere was subdued to say the least.

  The howl of the wind seemed amplified by the little rocky alcove they now found themselves in. And, perhaps it was. Elevated and, more importantly, out of plain sight, it’d proved itself invaluable in evading their pursuers.

  And thus it was there that they each received the bright red system message, tagged, most peculiarly, as coming straight from the administration.

  ATTENTION: HIGH PRIORITY MESSAGE

  An illegal trespasser and convicted felon has been spotted in your vicinity. This individual is of especial interest to certain high-ranking officials within the Consortium. As such, a substantial bounty has been placed on their arrest.

  Arrest Requirements: Dead or Alive

  Reward: Substantial (Details to be provided upon completion)

  Estimated Threat Level: Insufficient Data

  This is a mandatory assignment. Refusal to comply may result in severe penalties, up to and including death, for those found in willful violation.

  Marlene finished reading the message and then, poof, just like that it disappeared. Leaving them to stare at one another in confusion. Marlene’s eyes met Maya’s from across the alcove.

  “Y-you guys don’t think that was meant for us, right? Could’ve been a butt dial or- I mean the death penalty seems kinda harsh, no?”

  Maya opened her mouth to continue.

  Marlene blinked.

  In the next second, something large, angry, and moving incredibly fast slammed into the rock wall where Maya reclined—choking off her next words, and all those that might’ve followed. Marlene could practically feel the blood spatter slap across her face. Eyes gone wide, breaths coming fast, she could only look on in horror. At the dripping crater and fan of blood where her friend had just been. That had once been her friend. The hulking figure wasn’t done however. For how could it be?

  Marlene’s imagination ran wild.

  The monster rocketed forward at speeds she couldn’t begin to comprehend. Robin, half risen to her feet, arms outstretched to protect the children at her back, decapitated with one swift backhand. Blood, gray matter, and bits of bone spattering the wide eyed faces huddling just behind. Then came the stomping, until the veritable beating heart of their little party, all six of the little rugrats, were nothing more than a runny, homogenous paste pooling on the ground.

  An incoherent roar of anguish torn from her throat, Denise tried to fight back. She managed to stand and materialize her blade before a massive fist was punched through her ribcage—pulping her heart instantaneously. Eva, unfortunate enough to find herself within easy reach, was swiftly treated to much the same. Which left only Marlene—staring up helplessly into the unfathomable gaze of the monstrous entity.

  Marlene blinked.

  “Hey!” someone’s fingers snapped inches from her face. “Earth to her royal highness! Anybody in there?! Good lord you’re pale. Are you sure you’re doing alright?” Denise pressed the back of her hand to Marlene’s forehead. “Christ, you’re shaking.”

  Her eyes widened before, with a flash, she purchased another set of jeans and hoody.

  “Here. Layer up. You must be freezing. Do you need anything? Food? Water?”

  Marlene, well used to Denise’s fussing by now, focused instead on what in the world just happened. Her eyes flicked back to Maya—casually cleaning out her ear with a pinky nail—hoping against all hope she hadn’t seen what she’d thought she’d seen. Her stomach dropped.

  It’s still there.

  Something she’d never gotten up the courage to actually burden anyone with, were the exact details of her Mantle of Motion.

  Put simply, in so far as she could tell, with it Marlene could literally see motion. Speed, acceleration, velocity. She saw these concepts as ghostly blue outlines which appeared to preempt physical motion by just a bit. It’d been a lot to wrap her head around at first, but with time, and a lot of silent practice, she’d gotten to the point where she could read intention from the jumbled, overwhelming mess.

  Which was how she knew they were in deep deep trouble. Time seemed to slow as Marlene scrutinized the largest, streaking projection. According to it, Maya’s sudden demise was a foregone conclusion. After that, the details became rather hazy, but her imagination had filled in the blanks easily enough.

  Marlene’s chest seemed to constrict. There was simply no time. No time to warn anyone. There wasn’t even anytime to think, let alone overthink as she was usually so prone to do.

  She could only act.

  “Everyone get down!”

  Her voice rang out like the tolling of a bell. The rippling waves of authority which followed forcing them to obey whether they wished to or not. Her companions dropped so suddenly, in any other state of mind she might have been alarmed. Instead, she reached for the projection that spelled their doom and tried to bind it in place as she’d done in the clearing. She was immediately met with resistance—blood spurting from her nostrils.

  Unlike back there in the clearing, however, there would be no one to catch her if she fell. There was only her. She felt that wall of resistance, and pushed. Letting sheer desperation guide her.

  The world spun, her vision swam, and just as she thought it’d all been for nothing, a voice popped into her head. A steady, far more confident sounding version of herself.

  ~Glacial Inertia~

  In the next moment, the dreaded projection snapped taught. And just in the nick of time. Maya shrieked. Scrambled backward, nearly bashed her head into a wall. Surprised, and understandably so, by the malformed giant that’d appeared above her. It’s attempted shoulder check mere inches from taking her life. It’s movements glacial, about as close to complete stillness as Marlene could reasonably achieve.

  The others, meanwhile, were quick to leap to their feet with shouts of alarm. There were shrieks, creative invectives, nobody knowing what had happened or what was going on. Only that a scaled giant that looked like a cross between the incredible hulk and a severe burn victim had suddenly appeared in their midst. Marlene meanwhile, was merely trying her best to hold on.

  Whatever that pleasant voice had done helped lessen the strain on her considerably. And yet it didn’t seem to matter at all. The creature strained against her. Muscles bulged. Bones snapped. Tissue strands tore. Only to regenerate just as fast, if incompletely—leaving hideous scarring behind. It took a single step. Then another. Everyone on that side of the alcove had already vacated the premises.

  It swiveled its head on that tree trunk of a neck with difficulty. Met her eyes. Flashed her a predatory smile. And it was that smile, that familiar condescension, which did something to her. Filled her with a feeling wholly unfamiliar. Something that burned to prove it wrong. That she could be more. Had to be.

  Abruptly, her world faded away, only to be replaced by a ringing white void.

  Later, she would be unable to say how she knew to target the monster’s blood flow specifically. Nor for how long she spent choking the circulation from its body. Only that, by the time she came back to her senses, the hideous thing was dead, she had a brand new kill notification, as well as a fancy invitation to meet with the administrators and discuss her potential reward.