Aria stood paces away from Serena and her family. Kiki was at her side, anxiety clear across the smith’s face as she looked upon the stag that loomed over Camilla. Her green skin was shades paler with worry, with a spark in her yellow eyes from the part of the small woman that still dared to hope. They were outside, towards the edge of the training yard that met with the forest.
Felix and Serena were at the sickly woman’s side, and the mother was sat upon a chair, wrapped in bundles of cloth that allowed only her sallow face to show. Both husband and daughter’s hands shook upon the back of Camilla’s seat, a desperation that vibrated throughout the open area. Aria looked at the trembles that coursed through her friend, and though she had never really prayed to the gods, she sent wishes to the sky that the girl would have her hopes answered this day.
Merida stood at the stag’s flank, her hand upon the beast as its massive size loomed over the small woman. A small furrow wrinkled the Druid’s normally serene expression, and every so often her fingers drifted from the stag to straighten the dark blonde braid that hung from her shoulder. Small signs, but hints at a worry that lay underneath. Her other hand was wrapped around her crude wooden staff, its crystal tip held up to the pale beast’s head. Aria focused, Transposing small bits of the Aether around her into raw power that she funneled into her eyes. A simple cantrip, but one that allowed her to see the flow of energies around her. More specifically, the thread of pale white that drifted between the staff and beast.
A pulse traveled down the line, the only signal of a communication that Aria was unable to interpret. The stag knelt down following the signal and tilted its forehead towards Camilla. The light that radiated off of him was soft and gentle, but the sickly woman did not appear to register what was even happening around her at that moment. Her brown eyes were dull and stared through the beast into sights unknown to everyone, and most likely even herself. The stag’s pale irises flared as it looked over the woman. A small, tremulous huff followed after, and it reared back. Light pulsed through the thread between him and Merida. The Druid staggered.
“What’s wrong?” Felix asked, alarmed.
“You said your wife was under the effects of a curse, correct?” Merida asked.
“I did, would it be…” His eyes widened and for the first time, Aria saw fear flash across the Huntsman’s face. “You don’t mean…”
“What ails Camilla is not a curse.” The Druid settled her robes. “It is a parasite.”
Serena looked between Merida and her father, confusion clear on her face, but she kept silent. Aria looked to Kiki to see if the smith had any insight into the matter, but she appeared more confused than Serena was.
“I would ask you how such a thing came to pass, but I suspect the marks upon your necks prevent you from revealing such information,” Merida observed.
Felix straighted his back and gripped the edge of Camilla’s chair. “There is a-” the markings upon his neck flared with purple light, drawing a hiss from between his teeth, “...great evil within the lands of Osgilia.” The light flared even brighter and the Huntsman’s fingers cracked the chair’s grain as his grip tightened in response. He carried on, voice full of pain, “One of its spawn struck Camilla instead of me. We were told that she’d been inflicted with a curse…” the light vanished, and he barely held himself up. “But you mean to tell me…”
“...whatever it was that injured your wife left a part of it inside of her,” Merida said. Her eyes flared with the light of Aether. “And from my point of view, I can see why they thought it to be an ailment rooted in magical energies. This creature… it is formless, a being of Ether capable of mimicking the very form of Aether itself to fool prying eyes into chasing solutions that will not work against it.” She placed her hand upon the stag’s flank. “Only the eyes of healer whose talents are derived from Ether, a true rarity across all of Ellios, would be able to properly discern its real nature… and even then, the insight of an Enlightened Beast can often reveal things that Humanity and even the Starborne are blind to.”
“Father, what’s wrong?” Serena finally asked, her confusion too much to contain.
Even in her withered state, enough clarity returned to Camilla that allowed her to place a hand on her daughter’s head. “It will be ok, Serena.” She ran her hand through the girl’s hair.
Felix placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder and also patted his daughter on her back. He looked back to Merida and the stag, steel in his eyes. “Given what we now know… can he treat her?”
The stag grunted, and another pulse traveled down the thread.
“He says it may be possible, but it is a process that will take time,” Merida explained. “He has seen nothing like this creature, and hasty action… would be ill advised.”
The beast stepped towards Camilla, meeting eyes with the woman. That last spark of cognizance within her pushed out a nod of acceptance. Seeing this, Felix squeezed his wife’s shoulder and pulled Serena back. “It will be alright.” He told the girl, the wish of “please” carried in the peaks of his voice.
Light poured from the stag as he knelt down again. The thread between him and Merida’s staff vanished, and though the following line that formed between him and Camilla was one derived from Ether, Aria’s cantrip had allowed her to see that form as well. That, and the steady pulses of energy traveling down the connection’s length. She could not see this parasite that both the beast and Merida took notice of, but what she could see was that with each wave of power that flowed through the thread, color returned to Camilla’s skin.
A gasp broke from Felix’s lips, followed by the shake of his shoulders. Cracks, the beginnings of light from a man who finally dared to hope. His hands, still wrapped around his daughter, squeezed tightly. Not an act of desperation, a desire for comfort, but rather its exact opposite. An action that told his daughter that she could finally believe that her dreams would be answered. Tears were her response, the damn that held them breaking to unleash a steady stream that flowed from unblinking eyes. Eyes that watched as the light returned to her mother’s own.
Aria knew these tears. She cried them just two months ago. First upon seeing a ghastly hole in Jahora’s chest start to heal, second as she saw Helbram’s breath steady in the week he laid asleep from a wound most deep. And so, when she saw those same tears upon her friend’s face, the ache in her heart made them flow from her eyes for a third time.
Kiki wrapped her arms around the girl and pulled her in for a hug. The smith blinked away the moisture that kept forming around her irises, and a small smile tugged at her lips. “You’re a good girl, Aria.”
The thread between the stag and Camilla continued to pulse, but after a few minutes, it stopped. The stag stepped back, his stature still proud and tall, but she could see his chest expanding further with every breath. Then, the mother turned to her husband and daughter. Hollowness still sank in her cheeks, but the slight smile on her face burst through with the purest of strengths. Felix let go of Serena and let her run into her mother’s arms. Sobs were muffled by the blankets that the girl buried her face in, but they echoed through the space with a relief that was as clear as day. Camilla brushed the girl's hair with her fingers, but her gaze drifted to Felix. She held out a hand to her husband, and he was slow to approach, as if he was fearful that rushing forward might break the dream in front of him. When he drew close, he knelt down and kissed his wife gingerly before pressing his forehead against hers. A shudder was shared between them, followed by tears that both had likely been holding back for so, so long.
Aria gripped Kiki’s hands with her own, feeling the smith also starting to quake. Most of the girl held relief for her friend, but there was a small, second relief that was its shadow. One that was triggered by the lack of envy she held in her heart.
Merida allowed the family to have a moment to themselves and formed another thread with the stag through her staff. Pulses traveled back and forth between Druid and Enlightened Beast, stopping only when the crying softened to Serena’s quiet sniffles.
“I know that I am not fully cured,” Camilla said, “but this is the first day in quite a while where I have felt better than the day before.” She grinned at the stag. “And that is something to be thankful for.”
“Indeed,” Merida said with a soft tone. “Multiple treatments will be needed, and we will have to keep a cautious eye on the creature within you, but it appears that what has been done is effective.”
Felix stood up and walked up to the stag. He did not dry the tears on his face, nor did he hide the crack in his voice. “What is your name?”
“He does not have one,” The Druid explained, “Enlightened Beasts that are named only bear such titles for ease of communication with Man and… he has not been a part of civilization for all his life.”
“I see…” the Huntsman looked the beast in his eyes. “There are not many trees that grow in the tundras of Osgilia, but the ones that do jut up from the frozen grounds and bear appearances much like your antlers. We call them Horns, not only due to their appearance, but due to the strength that their wood possesses. In legends, there was a Horn that was taller and thicker than the rest, cresting high into the skies to hold their weight from crushing us. It was called Alatash, the Horn that Held the Heavens. I… I would give you this name, if you accept it, and an apology from the depths of this foolish, foolish soul.”
No pulse traveled through the thread between the stag and Merida, but the beast nodded. Felix stepped forward and held the stag’s head against his.
“Thank you… Gods… thank you, Alatash.”
Screeches tore through the trees, chased by the shuffle of leaves and snapping of branches. Aether flowed through Elly’s eyes, allowing her to see the pulses of corrupted power that were carried upon garbled cries. Her feet danced, shuffling her between the acidic green pulses while her wrist flared from the Circle glowing around it. The Weaver could feel the chill of water-aspected Aether brush against her fingertips, but she pushed that energy away. Instead, she grabbed at the threadbare signs of heat that lingered within the winter air and pulled it into her Circle. Other forms of Aether -water, wind, and even traces of earth- followed after the heat and were caught within her Circle’s orbit. Within its boundaries the power was Tranposed into fire-aspected Aether, and from there was Elly able to produce a ball of fire at her palm.
The whole process took less than half a breath, the results of continued practice. It was this practice that allowed her to fling the bolt of fire at the Crawler that burst from the trees. She was not its target, but she was in its way. The fleshy flower that was its maw was wide open, and when the ball of fire struck its mangled mouth, it burst in a surge of heat and force that blasted off half of its petals and sent its corpse tumbling across the snow. Another Crawler was right behind it, but a spear had already intercepted its flight.
“Fall back, Elly,” Helbram ordered. The warrior held his hand up and summoned the spear back into his grip, leaving its most recent victim bleeding out and staining the powder below it a sickly green.
The Weaver nodded and skipped behind Helbram, but another bolt of fire already sparked at her palm. More Crawlers burst from the trees, four this time. One fell to a thrown spear, and another from Elly’s firebolt. The remaining two continued to careen towards Helbram, who had already readied his shield. The guard was unnecessary, as two projectiles of pale blue light darted past both him and Elly. The first struck an aberration right in their open mouth and exploded with a flash of light that carried a wave of force. Its headless body splattered against a tree. The other hit the last Crawler right at their chest, which did not slay the creature but sent it crashing backwards. Helbram pursued the fallen foe and drove his sword into its heart. When he pulled the blade back, the creature let out a final shudder.
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More screeches followed, and Helbram signaled for Elly to go further back. He followed after her, meeting with Jahora, who was a stone’s throw away from them. The Mage was encircled by the wards at her feet, glyphs of Free Script, Orthodox, and Standard that glowed with a pale blue light. Her Circles were not orbiting around her head, and instead had been used to establish the three boundaries of the ward around her. Said ward was a few good paces wide, which allowed both Helbram and Elly to slip into its borders without crowding it.
It was not a moment too soon, for as they did, more Crawlers charged from the foliage. Jahora flared her hands out, manipulating the raw Aether that had grown dense within the ward. A dome of translucent blue hexagons form over the edges of the circle, catching the Gaunths that had leapt at them. Their grotesque mouths undulated against the barrier, splashing opaque spittle across its surface. The Mage’s mouth twisted in revulsion, but she spared any comments and simply nodded at both Elly and Helbram.
They returned the gesture and started the counterattack. The Weaver twirled, gathering the particles of the dense energy within the ward and shaping them into simple bolts. She skipped around the shielded ground, throwing each bolt through the barrier and into a Crawler’s mouth. Jahora’s wards meant that she was unable to move, but in return she now had much more control over her spells. It was this that allowed Elly and Helbram’s attacks to slip through the shield while the Crawlers could not. Sword and spell lashed out from the confines of the dome, and lifeless aberrations littered the ground around them.
There was no time to revel in victory, for soon after a much louder scream ripped through the air. A surge of corrupted Aether flooded the area, crashing against Jahora’s barrier. It did not shatter it, but rather wrapped against the shield like a hand trying to crush an apple. The Mage groaned against the strain of trying to keep the energy at bay, but in the end her barrier started to flicker and corrode. Helbram had already summoned the spear to his hand once the spell collapsed.
Elly projected a barrier in front of her with a flick of her hand, but that did little to stop the flow of power from smothering her. She was ripped from the snow covered trees and thrown into a place smothered in darkness. The shake of leaves around her told her that trees surrounded her, but when she focused her vision they appeared flat, like the backdrops of a play. In the distance she could see light from a campfire. Rather, what the light would look like if it was portrayed by paper. Around that light danced a woman’s silhouette. Her movements were graceful, far beyond anything that Elly could hope to accomplish. Next to this woman was the shadow of a man with a lute in his hands, one that looked like he was facing a crowd. The gestures of his hands and the comfort and ease in which he appeared to speak and play made her heart tight. That same tightness grabbed at her when she looked at the dancing woman. It was the grip of envy that clenched around her heart, and what followed it was a guilt so overwhelming it brought her to her knees.
She knew that this was only an illusion, that what she was seeing and feeling were the results of a Shrieker’s machinations, but that didn’t rob these feelings of their power. She shook with both a growing anger and smothering shame, making the sob that slipped from her lips broken and pathetic. A large shadow smothered the ones of the man and woman. It was large, bulbous in shape, and its head started to unfold into a flower.
A shriek ripped around her, shattering the illusion and leaving the form of a Brute looming just steps away from her, claw raised. Aether surged into her leg to kick away from the creature, but Helbram leapt between her and the Gaunth, glyph flaring from his shield. The claw raked against the barrier and deflected off to the side. Before the second swing was even in motion, Elly flipped to her feet and pulled the green Aether in her leg towards her hand. Air swelled and burst from her palm, kicking back her arm from the recoil and hitting the Brute with a blast of force that made it stagger back a step.
“Jahora! Get the ward back up!” Helbram yelled.
“I’m already on it!” Jahora replied. The Circles around her head sank to the ground again, the gaps between them gradually filling with runic script. Helbram was still holding the Brute at bay with his shield, its barrier reducing the shock of each blow to allow the warrior to turn it aside. Elly moved to exploit the openings that he was providing, but another Brute emerged from the opposite end of the clearing they fought in. It took only a glance for her and Helbram to know what she had to do.
“Go!” He yelled, straining against another blow from the Brute.
The Weaver made a quick half step, the Circle around her ankle pulling Aether from the ground. However, rather than trying to grab hold of the earth-aspected Aether beneath her, she instead focused on only one of the energy’s traits. From hardy power she pulled at its resilience, the half step she did before translating that intent and triggering a pulse of gray light to wash over her. It traveled across her onyx skin in the rigid branching lines of Saputan script, then settled around her arms as gray circles of various sizes connected by flowing brush strokes, script that was Ruhian in nature. The half-spell took only the part of a thought to cast, and when it had taken hold, she pulled green Aether into her legs and kicked off of the ground with a burst of wind.
Vision turned into a blur from her speed, but she knew her target. Her arms were crossed in front of her, and with a loud crack she crashed into the Brute’s knee. The creature let out a pained roar, barely holding itself up with its one good leg. Shock rattled Elly’s body upon impact, but beyond that she felt no pain. The hardiness she imbued into her arms allowed them to emerge undamaged from the collision. She bounced off of the aberration and used wind to adjust herself, allowing her to land on her feet.
The Weaver took quick stock of the creature - leg broken, mobility hindered. With another half step, she pulled weightlessness from the wind, letting it suffuse across her body in gray Ruhian script. She threw a bolt of raw power against the Brute’s face and made a quick spin in the air when the creature recoiled. When she landed back on the ground, there were four of her, three illusions that she spun with her hands. She rushed towards the Brute, unflinching as a wild swing passed through a false image.
She danced right under the Gaunth’s head and planted her feet with a stomp. The Circle around her wrist flared with a light, nearly white, blue and with a flick of her wrist a crude spear of ice took shape from coalescing fractals. She grabbed the spear and pulled her arm back as if she was about to throw it, her illusions mimicking the action. The Brute moved to cover its face, but Elly stopped halfway through the motion and instead kicked off of the ground. The weightlessness she imbued across her body let her skip over the claw that swatted at her. The swipe passed through her illusions and went wide, exposing the aberration’s flank. The one that was closest to its heart.
Her kick from the ground and the lightness to her form carried her to a height equal to the Brute’s head. She hefted the spear, but before she threw it she dropped the enchantment over her body and pulled the heaviness of earth-aspected Aether into her with half a flick of her free hand. The power trailed across her skin and she let that flow out of her other hand and into the spear. When she felt the weapon start to drop she threw it down. It sank into the aberration’s flesh with a heavy squelch, burying itself halfway down its haft. The Brute let out a strangled cry and collapsed to the ground with an earth shaking thud. Elly landed on the ground, stance ready to engage further, but as her ice spear shattered into flakes of Aether, the creature didn’t rise.
She spun to see how Helbram was faring, relief washing over her as she saw the Brute he was fighting stumble to the ground, the warrior’s sword buried into its flank. He summoned the weapon back into his hand and flicked the blood off of it, but before he could say anything his attention was drawn by a crashing that ripped through the forest.
Another Brute burst from the trees, its momentum barrelling it forward in a mad dash towards Helbram and Jahora. With a surge of Aether, the Mage finished casting her ward and the symbols around her flared back to life. Elly leapt within the boundaries of the glyphs and watched as the hulking abomination crashed against Jahora’s barrier. One of the translucent, hexagonal shapes cracked, but quickly repaired itself as the Mage fed more power into the spell. Helbram moved to deal with the beast.
“Hold,” the Mage grunted. “It’s mine.”
The Brute reared back, readying itself to strike the barrier with its skull. Once its head was fully pulled away, Jahora snapped her hands forwards. The dense Aether around her was Transposed by the Circles at their feet in an instant, creating a burst of frost that washed over the creature. Ice froze over it, locking its head in place just long enough for Jahora to pull her hands back, forming a ball of fire in her hand. She condensed it into the size of a bead before unleashing it forward. The Brute broke from its icy restraints, but it was already too late. The bead struck its throat and burst into a column of fire. When the heat faded, its headless body collapsed to the ground.
The Mage dropped her hands and sighed. “Gods, they’re relentless today!” Her ward remained in place, but sweat dotted her brow and Elly could tell that gnomish woman was doing her best to hide the fatigue in her eyes.
“We are in their main territory,” Helbram said, “it may only be the edge, but we were warned that the Gaunth’s are more aggressive in these parts.”
“To this extent?” Elly said. “I shudder to think how many of the creatures the enlightened beasts have had to deal with on their own.”
As if to answer her question, Romina reappeared in the clearing. She dragged the corpse of Shrieker with her, Helbram’s spear still buried into its side. From the brackish blood that was splattered across the stone that armored the wolf, it was easy to tell that many more had fallen by her bite. She tossed the creature’s corpse to the center of the clearing, then furrowed her brow. Images flashed through Elly’s mind, first of empty trees, then of the corpses of the Gaunths, and finally flame.
“The area is safe for now,” Helbram said. He shook his head, a reaction from the images that flooded his mind too. “Elly, have you fully learned how to purify their corruption yet?”
“Not fully, no. We will need to rely on fire for today.” She considered making an attempt to do so, but their duty today required all of her focus. She would have to ask Merida for pointers later.
Elly carved out a pit to pile the bodies in, a simple, but lengthy process of her using both simple cantrips and more elaborate movements with her hands to dig out large swaths of dirt. While Jahora moved the Brute’s bodies into the bottom of the pit with manipulations of wind, Romina and Helbram relied on physical strength to toss the bodies of Crawlers and Shriekers alike into the depths. It took only a few minutes, but by the time they were done, the pit was filled to the brim with the corpses of aberrations.
“This is just unsettling…” Jahora muttered. Rather than form another ward, her three Circles appeared around her temples this time and she held her hands out. Bracing herself, she gave Elly a nod.
The Weaver returned the gesture and rolled her wrist around, forming a small bead of fire that rolled across her fingertips. She let it drift from her touch and plant itself deep into the pile. A red-orange glow followed, seeping out between the bundled bodies before growing into a flame. Once the fire engulfed all the bodies, Jahora formed a glyph over the bit, a magical cap that contained both smoke and fire and directed them back down. Black smoke did eventually drift out from small holes within the barrier, ones that Elly dissipated in every direction with flicks of her fingers to pull at the winds themselves. Romina went off into the trees, presumably to patrol or to take care of any blood splashed around the area. Helbram sat against a tree and lifted his helmet’s visor. He took in a deep breath and Elly could see a weariness draped over him. Not from today’s battles, but rather from continued days of restless sleep.
“At the very least, we have proven that we can handle the Gaunths more readily,” he said. “I wonder how Pius and the others are faring…” His gaze drifted towards the edges of the glade.
“With your strategy, I’m sure they’re doing fine,” Elly reassured him.
“I hope…” He didn’t say anything more, but worried still creased his brow.
“If you keep that up you’ll lose your youth,” the Weaver teased.
“I don’t know if that’s such a bad thing,” Jahora added, still maintaining her spell. “If anything, he could do with looking his age for once.”
Helbram smirked. “I doubt it. My boyish looks are maintained by spite against jealous jeers.”
“Well, you must share your skincare routine with us, at the very least,” Elly further poked. “It does no good to hold beauty secrets.”
“If you consider sweat and dirt to be secrets, then by all means take part.” He raised his hands. “I take no responsibility for any outcomes, and any attempts to make me do so will be followed by a flight most desperate.”
“I could catch you easily, you know.”
“Perhaps, but never doubt the speed of a man who knows his life is on the line.”
The three shared a small laugh. A smile lingered on Helbram’s lips afterwards, and that was enough for Elly, for now.
With the aid of magic, it only took a few minutes before the corpses of the Gaunths turned to ash. Elly and Jahora used their magic to move dirt back over the pit, and by the time that was flattened, Romina returned. Blood covered stone no longer covered her body, and she gave an approving look to the spellcasters’ handiwork. Her nose twitched, and the wolf’s head swiveled to her side. Elly followed the beast’s gaze, alarmed at first, but given Romina’s relaxed expression, she could tell a threat was not approaching. What she did not expect was Geroth leaping into the clearing, making little to sound in his approach and appearance. Leaf hopped from the white wolf’s back, and Helbram stood as he walked over to them. Romina rubbed her snout against her mate’s, and then wandered off towards the edge of the clearing.
“Did you find it?” Helbram asked.
“Aye, I did,” Leaf answered. “I could have gone inside, but…”
A shiver crossed over Helbram, one that only Elly seemed to notice. “It is better that you did not. Who knows what could have been in there.”
“My thoughts exactly.” The archer looked around. “Merida and the stag haven’t returned?”
“Not yet. We will have to hold the line a bit longer.” Helbram lowered his visor. “You up for it?”
Leaf pulled an arrow from his quiver. “Always.”
Author's Note: Bit of a mix with this chapter. There have been some concerns I've noticed from readers thinking I'm going to overshadow Helbram eventually since I give character moments to so many characters, but I will just say that Helbram will remain the focus of this story. However, I want to treat the characters I introduce with some depth, and it can vary a bit between them. Not only with the party, but with characters in the arcs too. Felix is one of those characters, since I feel like having these people appear in the adventures makes the world feel properly lived in and not entirely dependent on just the party doing their thing.
As for the action this chapter, I recognize that I was pretty detailed with many of Elly's movements within this chapter, but since its her fighting with her new style I wanted to properly detail it all so that when I reference it in the future, it will make more sense. I won't be delving super into the nitty gritty all the time, but I feel like its necessary to do it occasionally to show exactly what I'm envisioning.
As always, let me know what you think! Till next update peeps, have a good one! ^_^
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