The Mother of Monsters

Mack’s sword was so close yet so far away. He pumped his legs, diving beneath the swing of a spear as it came down at him from one of the trees above. He swore inwardly, tucking and rolling towards his intended destination. The wightling that had attacked from above let out a shriek as it landed on the ground and scurried after him. He got back to his feet and kept running, weaving past one of the stray shots from Delilah’s ability. She shouted a quick apology but he was far too focused to worry about it or even care. They’d figure out a better strategy to avoid friendly fire later, his main concern was surviving this fight.

Just a little further! He thought as Miranda flicked her finger at one of the nearest wightlings and it froze over, collapsing to the ground while she took a few lazy steps back, her eyes fixed on the thing she called a ‘madcaller’. It tried to turn to look at him but a shard of ice crashing into its chest drew its attention back on her and it let out an irritated shriek, waving its hands over its head as if it were attempting to frighten her. She snorted at it and curled her finger, three shards of ice appearing in the air behind it and slamming into its back. It howled in pain and stomped its feet as Mack raced towards his destination.

Just as he was within arms reach he felt a chill run up his foot. He blinked and glanced down in time to see one of those black circles forming beneath him. He bit out a curse. Not again! He swore and threw himself forward with all the strength he could put down on the one leg still connected with solid earth. He hurtled forward, his body crashing and sliding against the ground. He scrambled to his feet and whipped his head around before spotting his sword just a step away. His eyes lit up and he darted for it only for another one of those black holes to appear beneath it. “Oh no you don’t!” He shouted and snatched it out of the air, his arm slipping into the hole and that horrible chill running up his shoulder. He gasped and pulled his arm out just in time for a pain to shoot up his side.

He gasped and winced, a numbness overtaking him as he looked back to see one of the wightlings at his side, it’s spear jammed right into his hip. It let out a yip of triumph and began to twist the spearhead, trying to cause as much pain as possible. His vision turned white for a moment before he managed to whip his arm out and strike it on the side of the head, putting a [Luminous Strike] into it for good measure. The back of his armored hand crashed into the side of the creature’s head and the skill triggered. Instead of being cut in two like the first, this one caught flame… and then exploded.

It was all Mack could do to throw his hands up and shield his face as the little jabbering ball of muck and crude oil turned into a plume of flame that threw him back several feet. His back hit a tree and he grunted, pain lancing up his back and aggravating the wound on his hip. He coughed and looked up, his vision swimming as he took in the fight before him. Miranda was holding the madcaller’s attention well enough but the rest of them had started to swarm after Delilah. He struggled to his feet and spat on the ground before flexing his fingers around the handle of his weapon. He was surprised to see that he was still holding it despite the explosion that threw him from his feet.

Mack panted as a fresh jolt of pain went up his side, his knee buckling a little. I need to help her! He thought desperately and looked down at his injured hip. Not getting anywhere like this, he thought before brightening. “Oh yeah!”

With an effort of will he activated his [Halo] and pushed it outward. This time, however, he added a bit of flavor to it, activating [Soothing Halo] for the first time. The flash of intense heat that surrounded his body turned demure, a pleasant wave that crashed across the space and into his two comrades. He felt his own injury begin to relax, the pain easing as the aura went to work, steadily healing his wounds. It was slow, but with the included pain relief that seemed to come with it he felt like he could at least move. He glanced down at his feet as another black hole appeared and hopped away from it, scowling at the creature that seemed intent on scrambling his brains all over again.

Miranda’s holding it at bay but it’s definitely making things harder for us, he thought before turning his attention back to Delilah who was getting surrounded more and more by the insane things. She glanced up at him and met his eyes as he surveyed the fight. She had five on her now and he had a bad feeling that if things kept going the way they were she’d run out of mana before she could fend them all off. He glanced down at his hip again and tested his foot before nodding and breaking out into a run. As he did he raced past a wightling that had turned to face him, spear raised. He swung at it in passing, throwing in another [Luminous Strike] that caused the thing to catch flame. He didn’t stop to admire the effect this time, focused entirely on the targets ahead of him.

“Back off!” He barked and took his weapon in both hands, swinging down hard at one of them before kicking the other away. Delilah turned and pointed at a third that charged at his back, a narrow bolt of concussive energy, compressed with her aspect of potency, sheared right through its bone-plated head. He glanced back at it and then at the one he’d kicked away before narrowing his eyes. It shrieked and charged at him and he grabbed the tiny spear in its grip. He tugged, hard, and wrenched the weapon out of it’s hand before driving his sword down into it. His blood pumping in his ears, his veins throbbing with adrenaline, he roared and threw the spear at the fourth and final wightling. The lobbed implement connected and drove deep into the creature’s side. It collapsed into a pile of ooze just like the others.

He panted, wiping his lips and nodding to Delilah who gave him an odd look. He didn’t have time to dissect whatever was going through her mind, instead,  he turned to face the madcaller as it flailed and shrieked in Miranda’s direction. She glanced his way and raised an eyebrow at him, flicking her finger at it again and pelting it with shards of ice as she shifted her slow retreat and started backing up towards him. The madcaller turned to follow her and froze, whipping its head left and right. Then it did something wholly unexpected, it turned and started to run away.

Mack saw red.

“Oh no you don’t!” He bellowed and darted after it, his sword at the ready.

“Mack!” Miranda called, “Don’t!”

He ignored her. The rational part of his brain would have obeyed, but it was like every fiber of his being had one goal in mind, to purge the wretched thing from the world and ensure it could never harm nor trick another person again. He snarled and threw himself at the thing, hopping over one, two, three black holes that it tried to place in his path. His sword began to glow as he shifted away from the [Soothing Aura] to just his standard [Halo] at full blast. Somehow it seemed to sense what he’d done and it let out another mad shriek, throwing up its hands and waving them frantically as it ran away.

“I said!” He shouted, hopping over one last black hole, “No. You. Don’t!”

He lunged and tackled the slimy, sticky monster to the ground. It flailed and thrashed even as he brought his weapon up over his head. With a grunt, he brought the weapon down with all his might as his [Halo] burned and sizzled against the creature’s desiccated flesh. The blow connected and a flare of light erupted between him and it. That’s when what he’d done finally caught up to him and his lips formed a thin line. “Oh damn it,” He grunted just as the following explosion knocked him off of the creature and clear into the air, landing hard on the ground a moment later.

The last thing he remembered before passing out was the sound of his health bar warning him of his impending death and the rancid stink of burned hair and flesh burning his nostrils.