Chapter 19

  Wasteland Nasties

  “Eyes sharp,” Matthias warned. He gripped the wheel tightly. Maia didn’t know what got him jumpy but she knew better than to question that tone in his voice.

  Maia sat in the passenger seat, her overlays pulled up. A faint blue glow flickered in her vision, detecting movement in the distance. “I don’t see anything—wait.” She froze as a faint red pulse lit up on her display.

  The Dame was rattling along the uneven dirt tracks, her engine growled in protest as they crossed over a pair of rusted train tracks cutting through the wastelands. The skeletal remains of the rail line stretched into the horizon, overgrown with stubborn weeds that clung to life.

  They’d continued eastward four a few days through the wasteland until they hit this old railroad. Matthias had told her that they’d actually ridden a train along this years before they’d bought the Dame.

  “Hang on, Ba!” she said urgently, “something’s really close. Like really close.”

  Before Matthias could respond, the ground in front of the Dame erupted, dust and debris scattering like shrapnel. He reacted quickly, jerking the wheel to avoid whatever had erupted from the ground.

  This was not the first thing to attack them over the past few days. The backroads were rife with scuttlers and other nasties.

  A monstrous roar split the air.

  “That’s no scuttler,” her father growled.

  “A nasty then,” Maia nodded.

  Matthias veered off, following the rusted train tracks, the dust began settling behind them, and some dark shadow was moving quickly out of it.

  Maia’s overlays were flashing in warning. There was a red haze of light around the creature, but she could see the Arcanum system was locking on.

  “I’ve nearly got a read,” she said.

  “Good,” Matthias responded, “I wanna know if we can outrun whatever it is.”

  “Oh…” Maia said as the profile appeared in front of her.

  “Oh?”

  “As in… oh, that’s not good,” she replied.

  “What is it?”

  “A Chimera.”

  “Oh shit.”

  Just as he said it the chimera emerged from the cloud of dust. It was a grotesque patchwork of creatures: a lion’s muscular torso, its mane tangled and matted with blood, scaled hind legs, and a serpentine tail ending in a snapping snake head. The two heads were what made it truly horrific to look at. The goat head atop its shoulders bleated wildly, while the lion head bellowed a roar.

  “Archons’ breath,” Matthias growled, slamming the brakes. The Dame screeched to a halt, skidding slightly as the beast roared again. No outrunning this thing.

  Maia had never faced a Chimera before. She knew that her father had taken a contract on one a few years before. He’d said it was one of the most difficult monsters he’d faced.

  The Chimera lunged.

  Matthias yanked the wheel, sending the Dame veering to the side just as the creature’s claws scraped across the truck’s reinforced hull, leaving deep gouges. The force of the impact rocked the vehicle, and Maia was thrown against the door, yelping in surprise.

  “Get out!” Matthias shouted, already reaching up for his spear blade which he kept strapped above his seat.

  Maia didn’t hesitate. She kicked the door open and jumped onto the cracked earth, landing hard but rolling to her feet. Her heart thundered in her chest as she watched her father jump out after her and charge at the Chimera, his blade drawn.

  The Chimera met him head-on, its lion head snapping at him while the goat head lowered, its horns glowing red with some kind of energy. Matthias dodged the lion’s bite, slashing at its side. His blade scraped against its tough hide, drawing a line of dark ichor.

  “Maia!” he barked. “Circle around! Go for the tail!”

  “The snake part?” she called back.

  “Yes!”

  She nodded, adrenaline surging through her veins as she darted to the side. The Chimera’s snake tail whipped toward her, fangs bared and dripping venom. Maia skidded to a halt. Unconsciously, she activated her augmentation ability, her movements becoming faster and sharper. The tail snapped at her, but she dodged, just about avoiding the acidic venom that sizzled where it hit the ground.

  “Try to drain it, I’ll keep its attention,” she heard her father call out. He was surprisingly calm. A lot calmer than she felt.

  Maia’s overlays pulsed as she focused on the Chimera. Its life energy burned in her vision, a swirling mass of red light pulsing from its core. She had to get close—close enough to siphon it.

  The lion head snarled, swiping at Matthias, who dodged just in time.

  She darted forward. The snake tail-head lashed out again, forcing her to dive into a roll to avoid its venom. She came up on her feet, her hands already reaching toward the Chimera’s flank. Her fingers brushed its scales, and the connection snapped into place.

  The Chimera bucked, roaring in rage as Maia siphoned its life force. Green energy flared around her hands, the power surging through her body like lightning. The Chimera twisted, trying to throw her off, but she clung to its side, pouring her intent into the ground beneath them.

  Shell Bark erupted from the earth, twisting around the Chimera’s hind legs with the sound of cracking wood. The sharp bark gripped like iron bands, pinning the creature’s powerful limbs. Maia clenched her fists, focusing every ounce of her will to hold the Chimera down as it thrashed violently.

  The snake-head snapped around.

  “Shit!” Maia gasped her eyes catching the open fanged jaw shooting towards her.

  She wasn’t fast enough to jump back. But she had to do something! Instinct took over. She raised her hands reflexively, but before the snake's fangs reached her, something strange happened.

  The world blurred.

  For the briefest moment, everything felt… unreal. Her body buzzed with an otherworldly sensation, and she felt herself slip—as though her very molecules scattered and then reassembled just a hair's breadth away. The snake’s fangs passed harmlessly through empty air where she had been standing.

  She staggered, her vision flickering as the Arcanum system flashed in her periphery.

  “What the…” she breathed, her heart hammering in her chest. Her whole body felt tingly, like a thousand tiny pinpricks all over her skin.

  She didn’t have time to process what had just happened. The Chimera roared, the lion-head now snarling and clawing at the Shell Bark restraints. The snake-tail lashed out again with fury.

  “Maia, focus!” her father’s voice boomed from somewhere behind her, but she barely registered it. Her mind was racing.

  She could feel the adrenaline pumping in her. She felt unstoppable. A wild grin broke across her face despite the danger.

  She rolled forward, dodging another bite of the snake-head, and slapped her hand against the ground. Something new erupted, this time forming thorned and spiraling spires that forced the Chimera to pull back. The creature’s lion head snarled in frustration.

  She was testing her limits now, trying to balance her energy reserves, and her heart raced with exhilaration.

  And then it hit—like a runner who’s pushed too far. Her breath came in gasps, her legs trembling beneath her. She staggered, the ground feeling unsteady beneath her feet.

  “Pull back! you over-extended!” Matthias shouted, jumping in front of her. A glaive of blue light in his hands. He slashed at the creature’s flank, driving it back.

  “I’ve got this!” she yelled back.

  The Chimera snarled, coiling its snake-tail in preparation for another strike. Maia’s hands twitched as she reached for that strange buzzing current again. If she could phase once, she could do it again. But the buzz didn’t flicker to anything. An alert flashed in the corner of her vision.

  Oh right, cooldowns.

  The snake-head shot forward. Fangs bared.

  But her father intercepted, slashing up the blade of his glaive. The snake severed, the length of tail coiling and spasming.

  This time, she didn’t falter. She dropped to her knees, slamming her hands into the ground. She pulled on everything she had left, every ounce of energy within her. Life surged through her like a torrent, and another wave of Shell Bark burst from the earth. The bark wrapped tightly around the Chimera’s torso and the remnants of its snake-tail, locking it in place.

  The creature howled, thrashing against its restraints, but it was pinned. Matthias didn’t miss his chance. He stepped in, his glaive glowing brighter than ever, and with one final strike, he stabbed through the lion-head. The beast let out a choking roar before slumping to the ground, the goat-head braying weakly.

  The wasteland fell eerily silent. Maia staggered, dropping to rest on the ground, chest heaving. Her heart was still pounding from the adrenaline and the strain of what she’d just done.

  “Not bad,” Matthias said, his light glaive evaporating. His physical blade was still lodged in the other side of the dead Chimera. He gave her a quick once-over, his sharp eyes scanning for injuries. “You did well. But you nearly got yourself killed.”

  “I was fine, I—”

  “You were not fine,” he snapped, cutting her off. “You were pulling on your own life force near the end there. That’s why you feel like you’ve just run a damn marathon.”

  “I… I didn’t mean to,” she admitted. “It just happened.”

  “That’s the point,” Matthias said, his tone hard but not unkind. “You have to know your limits, Maia. If I hadn’t stepped in—”

  “But you did step in,” Maia interrupted, glaring up at him. “And this was my first-ever Chimera. I think I did pretty damn good.”

  “I fought my first one solo when I was barely older than you. And I didn’t nearly kill myself doing it.”

  “Oh, here we go again. Another story about how perfect you were at my age.”

  “It’s not about being perfect,” Matthias shot back. “You were reckless, Maia. You don’t think things through.”

  “I’m learning,” she retorted, her voice rising. “That’s what all this is, isn’t it? Me learning? Or do you want me to just sit in the truck and hide while you do everything?”

  “I want you to keep yourself alive! You don’t understand yet how easy it is to lose control with these powers. You think you’re unstoppable until the second you’re not.”

  She opened her mouth to argue but shut it again.

  “I’ll do better next time,” she muttered softly.

  Matthias let out a long sigh, raking a hand through his hair. “Just… take a minute. Catch your breath before you try to stand.”

  Matthias crouched by the Chimera’s corpse, muttering under his breath as he began inspecting the massive creature. Chimera meat was almost universally shunned, and for good reason. Allico used to spin wild tales about how eating it could drive you mad, twist your insides, and eventually turn you into a monster. Maia had always dismissed it as one of his ridiculous ghost stories

  Matthias retrieved his blade, wiping it clean, before turning his attention to the snake-head tail. Without a word, he started cutting into the thick, scaly flesh.

  “I thought we weren’t supposed to harvest anything from a Chimera,” Maia said.

  “Most folks won’t touch Chimera parts—too much bad luck and superstition,” he said, his tone matter-of-fact. “But valuable is valuable, and there’s a market for this stuff if you know where to look.”

  He yanked out one of the long, curved fangs, wiping it off on his sleeve before uncorking a small glass vial. With careful precision, he began milking the venom gland at the base of the fang, the translucent liquid dripping into the vial.

  “The venom can be distilled,” he said. “Can be made into antivenoms… or poisons.”

  “What about the rest of it?” Maia asked, glancing uneasily at the chimera’s hulking body. Its lion head was still frozen in a vicious snarl, and she could swear its goat-head was somehow staring at her.

  Matthias shrugged, slipping the sealed vial into his pocket. “Some people say Chimera parts attract more of them. Don’t know if that’s true, but we probably won’t find any buyers for the other parts. We’ll find an alchemist in Lindrao who will pay good shells for this though, it’s worth the risk. Rest of it stays here, and we get moving before this thing brings anything worse sniffing around.”

  Maia's Plant Compendium