The Mother of Monsters

Teyva leaped over another root, her legs pumping beneath her. The huffing and growling of the wolf behind her set the hairs of her neck on end as she dipped below a low-hanging branch, rolling forward with a grace she never had in her past life. She hopped to her feet and kept running, trying not to think about where those reflexes came from. There wasn’t time anyway. The sound of wood snapping behind her warned her that the wolf was not slowing for anything. She glanced around, looking for Azrael. Now and then she saw her leaping from branch to branch; moving like some sort of ninja.

“I thought,” Teyva shouted, dipping to the right and around another tree. “That you knew these woods!”

“I never said that!” Azrael called back, landing on a branch a little too close to the ground. A wolf lunged, darting at her only to collide with the tree as she put on another burst of speed; wind coming out from beneath her as she hurtled forward. Teyva cursed, patting herself once to check and make sure the Mockeries were still in her gambeson. They writhed angrily, their presences screaming for an opportunity to hunt on her behalf. She mentally shut them down, not wanting to risk them on the great beasts behind them.

“We can’t keep running like this!” Teyva called, turning around another tree just in time for a wolf to leap at the spot she had just been. She gritted her teeth, turning to swing with the end of her staff. The blunt end struck the side of the wolf and a loud hissing precluded a black spot appearing on its off-gray fur. It let out a howl of pain and jumped away, Teyva kept running.

“We just need room to fight!” Azrael called, “They have the advantage in the thick trees!”

Teyva darted beneath a crisscross set of branches and slid between a gap in the trees, racing after her much faster companion. “I hate to break it to you! But this is a forest!”

“I found you in a clearing!” Azrael shot back, pivoting in the air long enough to shout something that sounded like poetry. From her fingertips a few transparent darts of wind shot out, missing for the most part but striking one wolf in the eye. It staggered and limped to the side while its comrades raced past it. Teyva shut her mouth, not able to argue the point. That said, she sincerely doubted clearings would be that common in a forest this old. She darted to the right, finding a cluster of trees narrow enough for her to pass through that wouldn’t allow the wolves.

Despite what she thought was a clever maneuver, a paw lanced through the opening, three sharp claws tracing a long gash across her arm. Teyva gasped, pushing forward despite the pain. She dared a look down at her arm and then back at the wolf that had caused it. Blood was already welling to the surface and streaking down to her wrist. The wolf, on the other hand, had pressed its muzzle against the opening and was sniffing for her-it hadn’t yet realized it could go around.

It was only level two, in a one-on-one fight, Teyva imagined she might be able to put the thing down. She had her sword arm and her Mockeries. With [Chill Touch] active on her weapon that should give her enough health regeneration to outlast the creature. The problem was that there wasn’t just one of them. She didn’t know the exact number but they had managed to chase off or disable three of them since the chase began a few hours after stopping at the watering hole outside of the campsite to top up. Since then they had been running, looking for some sort of advantage to either kill or lose the creatures.

Teyva checked her health. She’d already lost eight health to that one claw attack. She didn’t want to even imagine what kind of damage getting bit would cause. A branch came in fast in her periphery and she ducked it, the hard surface grazing the top of her head as she continued to run. She shoved her health bar back into the corner and focused on moving - she couldn’t get distracted now. Another howl from behind kicked the panic back into high gear and she leaped over a line of stones in her way.

“Teyva! A clearing!” Azrael shouted from somewhere up ahead.

“I don’t see it!” Teyva called back just as the ground began to slope upwards.

“Just past the hill! We’ll meet them there!” Azrael shouted back. Meet them? She wasn’t seriously thinking they’d take them all on at once, was she? Teyva groaned and pumped her legs, forcing herself up the ever steepening slope until she broke past the incline and looked down. Ahead of her, there was indeed a clearing but it wasn’t natural at all. Dozens of trees had been cut down leaving stumps behind. Regardless, Teyva didn’t slow down, charging forward as fast as her legs could carry her. She glanced over at her stamina and winced; it had dropped almost to twenty during their run. Her lungs were beginning to burn, cluing her in at the consequences of bottoming out on her stamina.

Almost there, she was so close!

A howl sounded behind her and she felt something heavy crash into her from behind. With a shout, she tucked and rolled; trying to cover her head as she tumbled down the hill and over roots, stone, and debris. She only stopped when her back slammed into a tree, knocking the wind out of her. She barely had enough time to come to her senses when the wolf righted itself and leaped. She scrambled to sit up straight and realized she’d dropped her staff in the roll, the copper weapon lying about ten feet away. The creature hit her without warning, pushing her onto her back and snapping at her face. She turned her head away, wincing at its foul breath.

It made another attempt, this time sinking its fangs into her shoulder. Teyva screamed, kicking at the creature and trying to concentrate long enough to use [Simple Shift] she watched her health bar go down by a large chunk, dropping from fifty-tree to thirty-eight. Frantic, she wrested her shoulder out of its grip and reached up with her right hand, casting [Chill Touch]. The foul scent of burning flesh and hair caught Teyva’s nostrils as she gripped at its loose skin, trying to do as much damage as possible. While she did that, the Mockeries began to swarm out of her gambeson, their malformed teeth bared and their many eyes filled with rage.

Between the bites from the Mockeries and the [Chill Touch] the creature had realized it had made a grave error. It pulled away, shaking its body to try to dislodge the enraged creatures that were biting into its flesh. Teyva scrambled to her feet, the pain in her shoulder sending a wave of dizziness through her head. She screwed up her face in concentration, spotting her staff, and ran to grab it, picking it up and turning back. There was a low howl of pain and a thumping sound as the wolf fell, its body crumpled in a heap. Teyva stood only a few feet away, catching her breath as five Mockeries crawled atop the beast. One had been crushed beneath its great bulk.

Teyva choked out a sound and tried to take a breath, looking back up at the clearing and then at the other Mockeries. “There’s nothing we can do, loves, come on,” She rasped, rushing forward and holding out her arm for them to hop on. Another howl rose somewhere behind her in the trees and she picked up her pace, finally breaking through the trees and into the open clearing of felled woods. Azrael was standing in the middle, her weapon already drawn. She turned and glanced at Teyva.

“You alright?” She called.

“I will be once we kill these things!” Teyva shouted back.

Azrael nodded as Teyva got closer. Teyva dismissed her staff, sending it back into her inventory. It wasn’t going to do her any good and she’d made her decision about memorizing it later. Dropping it had been reason enough. Instead, she glanced over at Azrael and grinned; “Want to see a neat trick?”

“Another Aspect power?” Azrael asked, her chest rising and falling hard.

Teyva threw her arm out and cast [Simple Shift] she grit her teeth against the uncomfortable sensations of the transformation, ignoring the sounds until her arm had turned into a shining steel blade. She held it up and readied herself. Azrael scoffed; “Aspect of the Fascimilie, you mentioned that. Just like your mimic babies.”

“Thank you for finally calling them what they are, cute little babies.”

“I never said cute.”

The first wolf broke the treeline, charging in their direction. Azrael pointed her sword as well, her free hand working at her left as she muttered something under her breath. “One at a time!” Azrael said in a loud voice, flicking her free hand out and up, pointing it to the sky. A whirlwind burst into life beneath the first wolf; spinning and lifting the creature into the air. Teyva didn’t hesitate, darting forward with her sword arm raised and ice forming along the blade. She brought it up and into the creature. In the corner of her eye, her health started a slow ascent. [Chilling Weakness] had taken root!

Azrael came in from the left, bringing her weapon up and across the creature’s abdomen, carving a deep gash. Teyva glanced to her right, spotting a pair of wolves rushing out of the trees, moving to save their comrade. “Move to the next! I’ll leave the Mockeries on this one!”

She held out her arm to the beast caught in the whirlwind, the confused creature kicking and trying to save itself from its compromising position. The five remaining creatures rushed up to her arm and leaped, landing on its body and beginning to attack. Not willing to waste any time, she turned her focus on the oncoming wolves. Azrael had already engaged one, more darts of air leaping from her fingertips to blind and disorient it. The other she kicked in the face, sending it tumbling. Teyva swallowed, anxious energy building up in her legs. Fear.

She looked between the two huge creatures, took a deep breath, and barreled headfirst towards the one that Azrael had kicked. With a shout, she drove her arm into its side, the cold flashing around the wound. She pulled the blade out and stabbed it again, and again before it whimpered and slumped; its strength flagging under the injury and the affliction she had triggered. She scowled at it, breathing hard, and looked up at Azrael. Azrael had already moved on to the last, leaving Teyva to deal the finishing blow.

Something inside Teyva twisted at the thought of being the one to deliver the attack. She looked over her shoulder at the one that had been caught in the whirlwind. It lay dead on the ground. She looked back at the weakening creature at her feet and then into the woods. More wolves were standing at the edge, watching. She rolled her neck and fresh pain lanced from her shoulder, snapping her out of her moment of indecision. She sighed; “Sorry, it’s you or me,” She gasped, and brought her weapon down.