by Aaron Oster
Her moment of hesitation was enough for the foal to shake off the ringing in its head, and even as Grace increased her density to try and keep it from rising, the foal bucked her free, sending her soaring through the air and crashing down on her back several feet away.
Grace cursed as she got back to her feet, wiping dirt and grass from her armor and trying to figure out what to do next. For once in her life, she was actually annoyed because she was so light. True, her skill gave her the ability to increase her weight by one and one-third times, but she only weighed ninety pounds. And while a girl her size weighing two-hundred-and-ten pounds was ridiculous, it wasn’t nearly enough to keep a beast like this down.
The foal staggered to its feet, shaking its head several times, as though to shake off the effects of her skill. Grace let out a long breath, doing a quick check of her RP. She’d used a lot in her last few attacks, without really giving her regen time to recover. She was down to 292/510, which meant she was still good for quite a few more attacks. However, if this beast could shrug off a point-blank attack from her Air Pulse right into its ear, nothing short of her most powerful skill would work.
She felt her heart rate increase a little as she thought of using Wail Wall. Morgan had allowed her to test it out a couple of times, just so she knew what it could do, and from what she’d seen, the attack packed some serious power.
Unfortunately, her RP would need to regenerate a bit more if she wanted to use it, which meant that for the next half a minute or so, she’d be unable to defend herself using her skills. She eyed the foal, who’d stopped shaking its head and was not glaring at her with open hatred. That last attack had seriously pissed it off, and Grace didn’t really know what her chances of surviving as long as she needed to were.
It wasn’t like she had much of a choice, and as the foal dashed towards her, she braced herself to dodge as best she could. The foal’s hide seemed to come to life as it neared, its wiry hair extending into sharp points nearly two inches long. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, they began to glow a cherry red, causing the air around them to shimmer.
“Oh, crap,” Grace said as the beast barreled toward her, the red-hot spines giving off waves of heat, even from several feet away.
She turned and ran once again, but the foal followed. Its speed seemed to have increased since it’s pseudo-transformation, and even when she tried a few sharp changes in direction, the foal was easily able to keep up. In a last-ditch attempt not to be caught, Grace dove to the side, trying desperately to avoid the spines.
However, in her desperation, she forgot about an important detail. The foal had more than just the spines. A horrific pain radiated up from her leg as her left calf was shredded to bloody pieces. Grace landed on her stomach, the pain so great that she was unable to utter so much as a single sound. Tears threatened at the corners of her eyes as blood streamed from the ruined flesh, but Grace knew that if she didn’t move, she could very well be killed.
In that moment, she completely forgot that Lumia was there to protect her. All she knew was that she’d been badly injured, and if she didn’t move quickly enough, the foal would finish the job. With an agonized cry of pain, Grace forced herself to turn over, not even looking at the ruins of her leg, and searched desperately for the foal.
The beast in question had slowed to a stop and was turning back to face her. Blood dripped from its shining muzzle, showing signs of what it had done to her, and, when it bared its metallic teeth, Grace almost imagined she could see a piece of her leg stuck between them. The thought made her gag, and she nearly emptied the contents of her stomach, right then and there. As the foal began a slow trot over, sure of its victory, Grace marshaled her thoughts.
A quick check of her RP showed that it was at 326/510, but she needed at least 350 to activate her skill, and at a regen of a bit over 5 per second, she needed at least five more seconds before she could use the skill.
The foal was only a few feet away, and she might not have time to activate it once she had the necessary RP. She could use another skill to defend herself, but that would only restart the process all over again, and this time, with an injury that hampered her mobility to the point where she couldn’t even move, Grace knew she’d stand little chance.
Those five seconds, where she was forced to simply wait and watch as the foal came closer and closer, were the longest seconds of her life. The foal was only a couple of feet away, its red-stained chin standing out in vivid detail, when she finally had the RP needed to activate the skill. Without a second of hesitation, Grace did just that.
Her body was outlined in purple for just an instant, the RP draining down to almost zero as the skill activated. The foal, seeing what was happening, lunged forward, trying to take a chunk out of her neck before she could use it. The foal’s caution in slowly approaching instead of rushing in was what saved Grace from losing the fight.
“Take this!” she yelled, bringing her hands together sharply.
They expanded in an instant, tripling in size and slamming together with far more force than should have been possible. An explosion of force washed out with a horrific scream. A literal wall of sound, visible to the eye, blasted out from the clap and grew more powerful as it washed outward.
The foal was thrown into the air, the waves of sound washing over it and tearing into its hide. Grace slumped to the ground, panting hard as she watched the foal’s body being thrashed about by the myriad of soundwaves slamming into it from all sides. She felt a distinct sense of satisfaction as the skill began to wear off, the powerful echoing screams fading until silence was the only thing to be heard.
The foal, now over fifteen feet in the air, fell back to the ground, its body covered in cracks, indents and twisted at a ninety-degree angle. Blood streamed from dozens of wounds, and when it slammed into the ground, Grace knew it was well and truly dead. She could hardly believe she’d actually won, though the pain in her calf made that victory bittersweet. Sure, she’d won, but now she was practically useless.
She winced, forcing herself to sit up and extend her bloody leg before her. She was beginning to get lightheaded, and the last thing she needed to do was pass out.
“Oh, that is not good,” she groaned, gagging once again as she beheld the leg.
She did her best not to look at it as she bound the limb with the detached sleeves of her armor. Of all the features of this specific set of clothes, this was the one for which she was most grateful. Not only did the detachable sleeves give her the ability to wear something cooler in a hot environment, but they also served as makeshift bandages in situations like these.
“You did well,” Lumia said, causing Grace’s heart to leap up to her throat.
“You scared me!” she exclaimed, trying to calm her breathing.
Despite her racing heart, Grace felt proud of her accomplishment. She’d beaten the beast, and even if she’d gotten off to a rocky start and had been injured in the process, she’d won all on her own.
“Should I call Morgan down?” Lumia asked, alighting on her good leg and examining the other one. “He is quite proficient in the binding of wounds, and I think he’ll be quite proud of what you’ve accomplished here.”
“So…he’s seriously not watching?” Grace asked, quickly wiping away tears as she tightened the bindings on her legs.
“You managed this battle all on your own.”
Grace let out a long sigh, then slowly nodded. She really wished Morgan actually had been there, so he could have witnessed her victory in person. However, she knew he couldn’t always be there for her, and that she would have to fend for herself. It made her both sad and proud that Morgan trusted her so much. Proud, because it meant he acknowledged her strength and skill, and sad, because it meant she was getting closer to the time when she would have to go off on her own.
Morgan had never specified for how long he’d train her, nor did she know what would happen when she was done. For now, though, she just needed to remain calm and try not to p
ass out.
“Morgan is on his way,” Lumia said after a few moments of silence. “He should be here in a few minutes. In the meantime, you should examine this.”
A small shining red and blue core landed on her lap, and when Grace looked to the foal, there was a very noticeable hole in its chest that had not been there before. She had no idea how Lumia had managed to retrieve the core so quickly and without her noticing, but the drake was quite powerful, so she wasn’t going to question it too much.
The core was warm between her fingers, and as she turned it slowly, she noted that it was quite a bit bigger than the others she’d come across in this zone. She only had to wonder for a moment how powerful the beast was, as she found out when she pulled up the core’s status and examined its properties.
Name: Quicksilver-Foal Matriarch
Rank - 11
Total available energy - 3,992/3,992
This core was taken from a quicksilver-foal. As this core was taken from a zone Matriarch, the amount of available energy has been slightly increased.
“Eleven,” Grace whispered, letting out a light laugh.
She’d beaten a rank 11 beast, and she had done it all on her own. Suddenly, it didn’t matter if Morgan had been here to see it or not. When he saw the core, he would know what she’d done and how much she’d accomplished. Today’s fight was, without a doubt, a great victory, and despite the pain, Grace could not have been prouder.
***
Morgan felt a smile curl his lips as the foal came crashing back to the ground. He’d been a bit worried when Grace had been so careless at the start of the fight, but she’d reacted quickly enough when the beast had shown its true colors. She’d seen that her strength had been insufficient and adapted to the situation – several times, in fact. She might have taken a couple of bad injuries, but they were no worse than what Morgan had ended up with in his time fighting powerful beasts.
All in all, he was impressed, though he would need to covertly train her on the art of using her Echolocation more carefully. She’d been smart in checking to see if he were around, but all he’d had to do was teleport out of range to avoid detection. And after not finding anything, she hadn’t even bothered checking again. Still, all in all, she’d done extremely well, and he was confident she was ready to head back to Faeland.
9
Elyssa, Queen of the elves, sat in her projection meeting room with a bored expression on her face. Around her sat the other rulers of Faeland. Her surrogate uncle, King Ragnar of the dwarves, sat to her left. Across from her sat the Council of Five, those in charge of the gnomes. To their left, was Tork, King of the Trolls, and finally, sitting on Elyssa’s other side, was Malachi, King of the beastmen.
“I still don’t understand why Marcus had to be replaced,” Ragnar said, eyeing the new head of the Guild, a wiry gnome named Zen, in suspicion.
“As we explained,” replied Shedra, speaker of the gnome council, “Marcus was proving ineffective, so we had to replace him with someone more suited to the job.”
“I don’t see how this new pup can be called ‘effective,’” Malachi said, his deep voice growling out in annoyance. “All he’s done so far is manage to lose over three dozen of my best scouts. Why don’t you send some gnomes, for a change?”
“Because our people are ill-suited to fighting, as you well know,” Shedra replied smoothly. “Both the dwarves and trolls aren’t built for reconnaissance, and the elves cannot match the keen senses of the beastmen. Your soldiers are the best suited to the job, and thus, they are the ones being deployed.”
Elyssa had to admit, despite disliking Shedra and the entire gnome council, that he was a smooth talker. He’d answered in such a way that Malachi could not take offense, thereby ending the argument before it even began. Unlike the others, Elyssa had never underestimated the gnomes. Scholars, they might be, but with knowledge came power, and with power, ambition normally followed.
She would know, though she kept her intelligence well-hidden, assuring that she was often overlooked and underestimated. So long as she continued to appear to be a spoiled brat without any interest in the goings-on here, she’d be left mostly to herself.
“As much as I’m sure you’ve soothed Malachi’s ego, you still haven’t explained why you keep losing scouts,” Ragnar said, turning his attention to Shedra. “It’s been weeks since the spies fled, and we’ve heard nothing!”
A small tick showed at the corner of the gnome’s eye, though Elyssa was sure that no one but her had seen it. Shedra was good at hiding his emotions, but it was clear that this was getting to him as much as the others.
“There is no need to be alarmed,” the gnome said, his voice still calm and collected. “We are preparing a strike force as we speak, one that will travel to the human lands and assure our scouts’ return.”
Elyssa’s ears pricked up sharply at this, noting that the rest of the rulers had a similar reaction.
“Strike force?” Malachi asked. “Do you mean to say that we’re finally launching some sort of attack on the humans?”
“A small one, yes,” Shedra replied, dipping his head. “Just to test the waters and see how they do. They will be careful, of course, and will assure to place their own lives as a top priority. After all, if they all die, we won’t get anything out of their trip.”
Elyssa held back the snort that had already begun building, knowing that it would immediately give her away to someone as sharp as the gnomes. It was clear they placed no value on the lives of the others. Their only concerns were having them return with information. If only a single one of them made it back, she doubted Shedra would lose any sleep.
“This is getting boring,” she complained, folding one leg over the other beneath her flowing gown. “Can I go now? I have better things to do.”
“Of course, your highness,” Shedra said, inclining his head. “We will reconvene when we have gathered more information. Until then…”
Elyssa disconnected the crystal, cutting him off mid-sentence and effectively leaving the meeting. To everyone else, it would seem extremely rude that she’d left before Shedra was done, but it would continue to give off the impression that she was just a spoiled girl who’d come into power too young.
“Finally! That took forever!” she complained, tossing her mane of silvery-blue hair over her shoulder and letting out a huff.
“If I may be so bold as to say that was barely five minutes,” Gilderon said, entering the room with a tray of sweets.
“Yeah…Forever,” Elyssa replied, rolling her eyes. “Did you bring me anything good?”
“An assortment of cakes and a cup of hot milk infused with chocolate, just as you requested,” Gilderon replied. “Though, if I may counsel against eating foods so high in sugar and carbohydrates. You do have a figure to maintain, and a heavy bride will not attract the best suitors.”
“Go stick your head in a beehive, asshole!” Elyssa said, her mouth already full of one of the cakes. “I can eat nothing but cake for a year straight, and not gain a single pound. I keep active enough to burn any excess, and you know it!”
“It is unbecoming of a queen to speak such vulgarity,” Gilderon replied, not at all insulted. “Besides, you have a dinner date with the…”
“Cancel it,” Elyssa said, licking the icing from her fingers. “I already told you who I’m going to marry.”
“I hardly see how marrying a human spy is even possible, let alone even a remote probability,” Gilderon replied dryly.
“Well, it’s going to happen. I already told you what I saw, and I’m convinced that we can stop a war from happening altogether. Plus, I’ll be married, and you’ll be off my back!”
“What makes you think that this human will be returning, or that he will even look at you before simply removing your head? They are animals, after all,” Gilderon said, no longer doing a good job of hiding his annoyance.
“He didn’t kill Ivaldi,” Elyssa replied, popping another small cake into her mouth
and savoring its sweet, crumbly and creamy consistency. “Ragnar told me plenty, and the rest I figured out from watching the projection. The humans want this war just about as much as we do, and if we can cement an alliance through marriage, we can prevent it from happening.”
Gilderon let out a long, tired sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“I’m going to call King Ragnar,” he finally said, turning to leave the large meeting room. “Perhaps he can talk some sense into you.”
Elyssa shrugged and watched as her head guard marched stiffly from the room. She’d wanted to talk with Ragnar about this anyway, though she doubted Gilderon would be able to get through to him. He’d been far too busy over the last few weeks, and she estimated at least another two before they really had time to talk. It was good, as it would give her plenty of time to figure out the exact details of her plans and to set them up accordingly.
She reached down, picking up another one of the small cakes. She eyed it for a moment, feeling her good mood sour.
“I am not fat,” she muttered, looking down to her trim waist and flat stomach.
Though they were hidden by the gown, it still clung tightly enough to show she was fit, and after several more seconds of staring, she angrily shoved the cake into her mouth and chewed quickly.
Gilderon always knew how to ruin a good time, and, when she was finished with her snack, Elyssa knew she’d be going to change and head into her training room for the rest of the afternoon.
10
“This isn’t some sort of trick, right? I can really move up to rank 10?”
Morgan smiled down at the small girl as he handed over the core, pressing it into her fingers and nodding.
“You’ve reached your maximum potential for your current rank. If you continued to train now, you would gain nothing. Well, you would still gain experience and skill in hand to hand fighting, but nothing relating to actual attribute growth,” he amended.
