Mia’s magic pushes back against the spell surrounding them, she had started to do so the moment Ada spoke. It’s a familiar spell to her, really, one that is meant to track and confound, the fact it is this potent means that the caster is close by, not that she could turn her attention to that, the magehunters are closing in on the both of them after all.
She wields her magic as she always does, with an ease that belies the effort of decades, and yet, as she reaches out towards her first victim she has to hesitate; the curse will wreak havoc on her body and mind, it is not a gentle thing, not enough to kill her if she gets help, but more than enough to disable within minutes. Instead, she solidifies the spell, the backlash still comes as a sword crashes into the barrier, preventing it from reaching Ada, but it is much less.
Ada will have to do most of the actual bloody work in this one again, but Mia can only smile slightly at the thought as she watches Ada move. She has changed, even in this short time; her body is an almost invisible blur moving at breakneck speeds, speeds Mia would be unable to emulate in her human form. Her tail lashes out and scratches one of the hunters, a shallow wound, one that would be barely an annoyance usually, if not for the liquid that is now seeping from Ada.
Magehunters are broken men, their minds obliterated and their magic stripped away into seals to control them, they never speak nor do they make sound, their purpose singular: killing the enemies of the crown, or really, anyone that they dislike. And yet, the poison coating Ada’s tail forces an agonizing scream from the man, even as Ada herself leaps towards her next target. It is a disturbing sight to Mia, the poison does not behave like anything she has seen before, the small gap visible to her only shows the outermost effects, but that alone tells her more than she needs; it is magic, Ada’s magic, distilled into a weapon as it feasts on the flesh it finds, does it act faster, or slower, with the lack of magic in the magehunter?
She does not get an answer to the unspoken question, as she throws up another pseudo barrier to deflect a swing at Ada as her talons tear into the abdomen of yet another soldier, two are already down for the count, another having been decapitated mid leap. Mia’s barriers aren’t truly solid, she shatters the space in the place she wants them, disturbing anything that passes through. She can, technically, twist it into a field of edges, so sharp they’d cut through steel with ease, but she does not, the proximity to Ada would only endanger her companion.
As Ada is taking care of her side, Mia has to finally turn her attention to the other, as the other half of their foes encroach on her position; they are slow and hesitant, self preservation one of the few things they are left with, just enough to not die without cause.
The first of them steps closer, shield raised high as runes light up across its surface; a common implement for them, meant to disturb magic to the point of uselessness. Mia’s magic though merely crashes into it, and rips it apart entirely, it’s not an innate property of her magic, just an exertion of will. An exertion she continues as her magic continues on and tears through the armor of her foe and shreds apart the fleshy bits. This one does not scream, even though he has been turned into a meat slushy.
Her other opponents tighten rank as they push in faster, their blades flashing forwards in an attempt to cut through her magic with an even stronger variant of the enchantments on their armor, but it is of no use. Mia has centuries of experience on their group after all, her magic just twists around the cutting blades and bores into their bodies, felling them one by one. And with each enemy she strikes, the curse within her responds, it tears at her body, ripping into her blood vessels and organs, a minor reflection of her own magic, really, the curse has always just been there to repurpose her own, feeding on her own might. She can feel her body slowly start to crumble underneath her own power, though it is a distant feeling, as part of her magic begins to do the same to her mind, splintering into tiny tiny pieces, too many to count. The last magehunter falls, blood leaking from the gaps in his armor, and Mia falls to the ground and against the tunnel wall, her eyes are blinded by now, torn apart, and the world is suffused in a ringing silence, she is alone here, in this void of sensation, only the cold of the stone and the warmth of her blood telling her she still lives.
Her mind fades away as she struggles to breathe, maybe she had overestimated herself, her powers, maybe this is where she dies, leaving behind the adorable little creature she had found. Tears would fall from her eyes if she could cry, but she can not, instead she accepts her fate, mourning what could’ve been, even as a warmth that is not her blood touches her face. Hopefully Ada will find her own way, maybe she even is there with her right now, in these last few moments.
I ignore the screams of pain behind me as I rush over towards Mia. I'd trusted in her keeping my back free of enemies, but I had not expected the consequences of her own actions to be quite this severe. Even as I stop beside her and reach a hand towards her, I do not know if she lives, where her eyes should be, are merely two bloody holes, like something shredded her eyes apart. Her ears are leaking blood down the side of her now scarred face, though the rest of her body does not look in any better shape, wounds across all of it are bleeding all over the place.
Rage fills me as I realize that Mia is dying, and without the faint remains of her halo, I’d think she's dead already. I am angry at myself for not protecting her, for letting her be hurt, but it is the fault of whoever did this to her, whoever sent these empty husks of men after us. My eyes turn towards either of our sides, my tails raising high in the air besides me, and I realize, with a sadness that does not surprise me, that all my foes are dead already. A pang of regret goes through me for not having used my new poison more.
Turning back to Mia, I try to think of a way to help her, to save her, and I come up blank. My magic does not heal, not her at least, and I have nothing in my storage that might help either… except the fruit, but it is probably of little use, regardless, I try still, grabbing one, I slightly open her mouth and squeeze the liquid from the fruit inside. Anxiously I wait for a moment, and there is no response.
My eyes search our surroundings, before they finally fall on her ring. Maybe… maybe she has something. I pull it off of her finger and hold it tight, willing my mind inside of it to see what might help. There are many things in here, camping supplies, books, little vials with various liquids, clothes and different types of accessories; but nothing that might help, there’s nothing labeled a healing potion or the like, instead, I start to pull out the accessories, the ones that are magical at least.
As I am shoving all of them out of the spatial storage and onto Mia in a desperate hope to save her, something changes behind me, a presence makes itself known. A presence that I despise. “Curious little creature that she picked up. I frankly didn’t expect you to be intelligent enough to use a spatial storage device. But that whore was always one for surprises.” Markus’ voice fills the room behind me, and as I turn to look at him, I can see a faint outline of his disgusting face, I can’t stop myself from hissing, something that only elicits a laugh from him. “What an adorable little creature. I wonder what she’d think when I break you into a proper pet?” His eyes look around for a moment. “Well, the imbeciles weren’t exactly enough it seems. The next few will likely be enough though, now that she’s gone.” I realize that Markus does not recognize me, and decide that he does not need to know who I am; instead I lash out with my still glistening tail at his projection and cut through it, something that earns me a hiss from him. “Silly creature! I am not there!” It takes a moment before his face twists into something resembling panic, and humiliation, and he disappears, the only thing left behind is a quiet angry mutter. “How?!”
I am not sure what his reaction means, but I disregard it and direct my attention back to Mia, now that the nuisance is gone. She is still there, not having moved even a tiny bit, except that… there is a faint glow of magic, ever so slight emanating from a little amulet, one in the form of a willow. It reminds me of how we met, and without any other real options I snatch it up and put it around her neck, willing it to work, to keep her alive. A few agonizing moments later the glow grows slightly more intense and encapsulates her entirely, it is warm and soothing, like a safe place in a storm. I do not know if this will be enough, but the similarity of it to my cocoon and to the willow at my wife’s grave, makes me hopeful.
Scooping up the other trinkets, I store them back inside her ring after slipping it onto one of my fingers; then I scoop up her body with my tails to carry her with me, I can not leave her behind after all. My eyes spot the bodies around us again as I start to move, a small part of me is filled with regret at the missed meal, but I know that I would have gotten barely any nutrition from them, defiled as they are. Somehow I do not feel any revulsion at the part where I’d be eating humans, that is probably something I should be concerned about, and yet, I am not.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
As I walk through the dark caverns, the map Mia gave me is the only thing giving me confidence, I would’ve gotten lost without it hours ago. Luckily though, fatigue is not setting in for me, even with the battle and the extra exertion, I can tell that my body is sustaining itself on the remnants of magic I consumed, having eaten one of the fruits was enough to replenish my reserves to an acceptable degree too. During the travel I remain on high alert, keeping my sense peeled for any hint of wrongness, anything that might feel off. I am not exactly afraid for my own well being but I am certain I will be unable to protect Mia in case of an ambush.
Anxiety remains a constant companion to me as I traverse the tunnels deeper and deeper, even as I am left alone by the wildlife, it does not calm me, worry suffuses me instead, to the point where I decide to continue my journey, instead of heading to the resting spot Mia was leading us towards previously. After all, I do not know how much time she has left, whether the amulet is even preserving her life, really, it is just a hunch on my part that it is.
Eventually, after too many hours to count, my energy begins to finally leave me, even my new body has its limits, despite what spurs me on. A look at the map tells me that the next campsite is still many hours away, at least at my current, relatively slow pace. I am aware of how bad an idea it is to rest without the wards of the campsite, though really, it won’t make a difference, I do not even know if I could activate them if I wanted to.
Instead, I decide to do as anyone in a situation as mine would; I scent the air for any potential creatures nearby, there are many scents in the air down here, most of them stale and old, but one stands out as a fresh trail, leading down a side passage into the dark, into territories where only the outer most areas are marked on the map. Whether its lair is down that direction, or whether it went there to hunt, I can’t exactly know, but it is a gamble I must take. Thus, I brave the unknown, Mia still laid across my back and held close by my tails.
The scent twists and turns throughout the tunnels as I follow it, the occasional sound echoes from deep within, so faint I wouldn’t be able to hear them on the main passage; there are creatures here, and they do not seem like small scavengers that barely survive. No, the roars, even so far away, originate from beasts I can only imagine the size of. It brings me no small measure of relief when the scent turns away from a tunnel leading into a cavern, even just a small glimpse into it, has me unable to comprehend its scale, the floor so far below that it is impossible to see from the entrance close to its ceiling. The scent only passes by its entrance, before turning away into a small crevice, barely large enough to accommodate Mia if I drag her in behind me.
I lower her to the ground before heading in by myself, intent on securing it for us. But, instead of being met by hostility, the creature that calls this place its home seems almost docile as I pop my head out of the crevice and inside. It’s a small creature, resembling some form of six legged cat whose skin was replaced by sleek chitin. It merely looks up at me from the meal it is eating, a glimpse of intelligence reflected in its clear blue eyes.
Stepping inside, the creature pulls its meal closer and fixates me with its eyes. A small snarling hiss comes from it, but it is not the aggressive kind, there is almost an element of impatience to it, of curiosity. Instead of trying to use my words, I channel my intent into my skin, and a series of patterns goes across me, a desire for shelter and rest, nothing more. The creature considers me for a long few moments, before it returns to its meal, its body relaxing.
It’s an action I take as acceptance and an invitation to rest here, I quickly move my tails back into the crevice, and pull Mia into the little cavern. It draws the creature’s curiosity again, but there is no hostility there still, just interest in these other strange creatures that have invited themselves into its home. A home that I now notice has not just bones laying about in a chaotic fashion. Sure, there are some bones of eaten meals, but there are pelts too, and other bits and baubles, even a small stash of different herbs cordoned off into a corner.
Maybe I just got lucky, or fate has had its hand in finding this place, but nevertheless, I flash my appreciation across my skin as I situate Mia into a more comfortable position. And still, I do not speak, so long as my host does not, I do not see a need to, not that I even know whether it is capable of speaking in the first place, or that we’d even be able to understand each other. Instead, I curl around Mia a bit more, my tails covering most of her body protectively.
Our host leaves us alone, and eventually I drift off to sleep next to Mia; my dreams are plagued by nightmares of death. I am back where I was a year ago, Anya is there, smiling, and then the next moment I am cradling her dead body, and my world collapses in on itself, the paramedics eventually arrive and try to talk to me, but I do not respond. Everything fades around me, and I find myself elsewhere, this time Anya is there too, but she’s not dead. Her hand lays on my shoulder, gently soothing me as I stare at the broken form of Mia. She whispers to me, words I once more do not understand; but she is trying to reassure me, I know that. I turn to her and she holds me closer, her fingers scratching at the base of my tentacle hair.
The dream changes again then, and we find ourselves somewhere I do not know. It is a grove, somewhere deep in the forest, and there, in that grove, stands a willow tree in the middle of a lake. It is a mirror image of the willow that stood above Anya’s grave, and there, at the base of the tree, rests Mia, halfway submerged into the water. She looks at peace, quietly slumbering underneath its safety.
Anya is here too, she still holds me in her arms, slightly off the ground. We stay like that for a few moments before she quietly lets go of me and lowers me down; she presses a kiss onto my forehead before standing up, and walking towards the willow tree. I try to follow her, but there is something preventing me from stepping into the water. It doesn’t stop Anya though, she steps forth onto the lake, and I expect her to sink but she does not, her steps are light and secure as she approaches the tree. She raises her hand towards its bark and looks back to me, a smile on her lips. A warm wind engulfs me as she closes the last bit of distance with her hand, it is soothing, much like it was before; it is the same magic, I can feel it.
The rest of my sleep is dreamless, and I awaken in the morning to a dark cavern, curled up around Mia. I am disoriented for a moment before memories come back to me; the fight, Mia near death, our host, and my dreams. I scan the cavern, and find that our host is sleeping just as I had; there’s also a small pile of herbs next to me, I know I have not gathered them, so the creature must’ve. While I do not exactly know what herbs do what in this world, I take the gesture for the goodwill it clearly is, if it wanted us dead, it had ample opportunity to, without going out of its way to gather herbs. Though for the moment, I leave them be, better to try and inquire for whom they are than to just take and give them to Mia or to eat them.
I turn to inspect Mia’s body, she hasn’t changed any since the evening before, her body is still a broken mess, full of bleeding wounds and lacerations. Though the bleeding seems to be stalled by the glow of the magic it hasn’t subsided entirely. I am on a clock, clearly, to get her help, if that kind of help is even possible, I know so little about the kinds of magic usable now. Before the Genesis, magic couldn’t exactly heal, it merely accelerated natural recovery, something that my own seems to do as well, though in a different manner.
Eventually I summon some of the food Mia still has in her ring, as well as some of the preserved fruit, one of which I place to the side as a thank you for our host. I eat in silence, considering my next moves. Mia said to get to the forest, which requires me to leave the mountain, there, Celine should be able to find me. The name reminds me of my best friend from before, and has me wondering how she fared through all this, though I only stay with the thought for a moment; the past will wait, Mia can not. I pull out the map and start to plan out a route, even if I go without sleep, I would only reach the outside by the end of tomorrow. I can not tell whether Mia has that long.
A rustling sound draws my attention away from the map, and I spot our host slowly making its way over. One of my tails reaches out to the fruit I put aside and holds it out to it. It considers it for a few long seconds, before taking it from me. It seems to enjoy the sensation of the magic flowing through it before finally turning its magic back to me, or rather, the pile of herbs next to me. It trods over and takes them in its snout, before carrying them over to Mia and placing them onto her abdomen. It shoots me a questioning but expectant glare afterwards, and I can only flash my agreement.
It rips the herbs into small pieces, before chewing a mix of them into a paste. It then gently starts to paste Mia’s wounds in them, and I go to help it soon after, together we only take a few minutes to finish the job. The herbs are still unknown to me, but the mixture clearly stops the bleeding.
I flicker my appreciation towards the creature, before gently moving Mia towards the exit of the cave. Stepping towards the exit, I turn back one last time to say goodbye, just for the creature to slip past me and outside.
When I myself reach outside, it is still there, waiting on me. I pull Mia after me and secure her on my back, which then prompts the creature to start heading off. I guess it wanted to make sure we left and were safe. We only make it a few steps back the way we came, before the creature appears in front of me again, and lets out an impatient hiss. Its intent is obvious, it wants me to follow… yet, how would it know where I want to go? Where I need to go? Though, even with the medical paste, Mia might not make it long enough to get the help she needs, and this little critter has been more than friendly so far.
It might be a stupid decision, it might be smart, I can’t really tell, but in the end I decide to follow it, it knows these caverns better than me, and likely better than Mia too, considering the map she gave me is only partially filled out. Decision made, we start to head deeper into the unknown, away from the paths I can follow with the map, away from those that hunt us, and hopefully closer to those that can aid us.
