by Eric Vall
“There has to be something…” I muttered to myself out loud as I continued to traverse the mess and wreckage. If only I had wings or some sort of magic that could make me taller.
I stopped dead in my tracks and smirked at my own stroke of genius as I plucked a crystal from my bandolier. I might not have had enough height on my own, but there was nothing that said that I couldn’t utilize my monsters. I turned the baroquer’s crystal over in my hands. It was by far the tallest monster I had in my arsenal, but that also served as much of a problem as a solution. I still wasn’t completely confident with my ability to summon large monsters. Yeah, I had gotten better, but even the arachness had proven to be difficult to control, and she was a third of the size.
I clutched the crystal tightly as I found my resolve. I had to try. If I didn’t, then my friends' lives might be in danger, and I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I hadn’t done anything to help them.
With a great amount of focus and concentration, I pushed my mana through the crystal and then smashed it onto the ground. The baroquer grumbled to life as it rose up before me, a looming monolith of flame and steel. It stood before me as it awaited a command.
There was an odd moment between us then, as it stared down at me, and I up at it. I had no business having control over a monster that was this powerful, but here it was, in front of me as though I were its lifeline like it wasn’t able to exist without me. That’s when I remembered the question Arwyn had asked me when she tutored me for my written exams. When a summoner captured a monster, they invested part of their mana in the summoning, forming a bond greater than normal monsters. It made them obedient, easier to control, and require less mana to summon and maintain.
But I had no idea it would be so dramatic of a difference.
My baroquer, a grade A monster, took even less mana to maintain than a wallerdon.
It was incredible, and I realized that I need to be way more conscious of capturing monsters in the future.
Black eyes continued to stare down at me, and sweat dripped from my brown hair with how close its flames were. Strangely enough, it didn’t burn. It was warm, yes, but I didn’t feel the same kind of sting I had when I had fought it only moments before.
I focused my thoughts on gaining height to find the other members of my squad, and the baroquer kneeled. It offered its hand to me, and somehow I knew what it wanted. I climbed into its palm, and it lifted me into the air. When its hand reached its head, it allowed me to climb out again, and I stood between the horns on its iron helmet.
Now, this was a view. I had to be upwards of forty feet higher than I was on the ground, and it offered a whole new perspective of the Shadowscape. From up here, I was able to take in more than I had ever thought possible. I could see over the destroyed xanyarstone walls that no longer stood in one piece in this realm. Buildings suffered char marks or had outright collapsed, and the roads were littered with remnants of what used to make Varle the bustling Enclave that it was.
The Academy was in shambles, too. The main building was the only part that remained somewhat intact. Everything else was reduced to nothing. Even the bathhouse, which I remembered was little more than ruins and hot water the last time I had been inside of the Shadowscape within the walls of the Academy, was now little more than a giant, murky pond surrounded by what little remained of the structure in the first place. It left me to wonder whether or not a rift that opened up in the same place twice was a reflection of what had happened since the prior incident or if it somehow changed the state of destruction each time. I had a hunch that it was the former, but it was still something to ask for future reference. I never knew when information like that might come in handy.
As I surveyed the surrounding area, I noticed that Gawain and the little girl that resembled the angel were nowhere to be found. It was as though they had vanished from this realm of existence, too. I swore under my breath, then went on to look for Varleth and Erin.
Thankfully, they didn’t take long to find. I spotted them fairly close by from my perspective, near where the outer edge of the campus wall was that blocked it off from the rest of Varle. I also spotted a monster, a cyclops, but it looked different from any of the others I’d ever seen. From a distance, it looked to be a storm variant which was rare for most any kind of monster.
There were air, thunder, and water variants, but there were few monsters that had the capability to possess all three simultaneously. It was a deadly combination, and it was what made Headmaster Sleet such a powerful force to be reckoned with.
“Let’s go,” I commanded the baroquer, and it took one giant step in front of the other as it slowly trudged its way to where Varleth and Erin were. Immediately, I noticed that Erin’s stagi was gone and that Varleth was the only one to go up against the cyclops. Maybe she was out of mana? I had the elixir, but it was only half full now, so it would only give her a partial boost. I didn’t think it would affect her any differently than it had me, and I felt fine, but I wasn’t sure how it worked with mimics.
As we marched closer, Varleth was thrown backward into a pile of what likely used to be additional storage for training equipment. Several splintered wood swords and shields stuck up and out around him, and I was mildly impressed that he hadn’t been impaled on one of the jagged stakes.
Erin rushed to his side, but a streak of lightning that cut through the sky like a hot knife through butter and struck beside her feet. She shrieked, and it rang out into the void as she fell to the ground in terror. I couldn’t tell if she was all right, but she dug her elbows into the ground and crawled the remaining few feet to where Varleth was.
The cyclops approached them, and I shouted to divert its attention. Hopefully, it would buy them some time.
“Hey, ugly! This way!” I yelled, and at first, it didn’t hear me. It continued to stomp its way to where they were, vulnerable and more or less defenseless.
Without another thought, I commanded the baroquer to lift its sword and smash it into the ground to try to draw the other monster away from my friends. The baroquer followed my command, and it drove the tip of its blade as far as it could go into the surface, which was pretty cool, since the heavy sword cleaved a giant crevasse in the earth that separated the cyclops from Varleth and Erin.
Finally, we had the cyclops’ attention, and it was not happy.
“Your fight is with me!” I called out to it, and its roar in response was so deep that it shook my body, though that might have had something to do with the sound reverberating off the baroquer’s iron armor. I wasn’t a scientist though. I could only speculate.
The cyclops eyed me and the baroquer, then turned to face us entirely. Now that I could see it in full, the storm cyclops had slightly different features and details than the standard variant. The giant was a deep shade of green with bright yellow and white markings all over its fat body. There didn’t seem to be a pattern or reason to the markings, much like the nature of lightning itself. Its singular eye was as grey as storm clouds, and it even had a cloudy look about it.
It smacked its fat belly, and the clap sounded like thunder. The fat rippled like a drop of water on a still surface. It took a stance and licked its chops with its long, girthy tongue.
I cringed but commanded my baroquer to take a stance as well. It brought its sword up like a knight about to charge into battle and then did just that. There wasn’t time to wait for the cyclops to make the first move. With a battle cry of my own, the baroquer took a slow step forward, then thrust its sword at the monster.
Somehow, the storm cyclops managed to dodge my baroquer’s attack, and with a windy roar that echoed across the Shadowscape, the cyclops brought its bulbous hands up over its head and smashed them into the baroquer’s shoulders. I hastily hung on to one of my monster’s iron horns to keep myself from an unpleasant tumble that likely would have led to my untimely demise.
Even with how heavy-handed the cyclops was, there was nary a trace of damage left on the baroquer, not ev
en a scratch to the already relatively scuffed armor. My baroquer shook it off easily and brought its sword around for another swing.
This time, it did connect. The blade tore a gash straight across the cyclops’ chest. Blackish purple blood poured and bubbled from the open wound. The cyclops’ roar caused the clouds in the sky to gather. A cyclone spiraled over us, and bolts of lightning cracked through the thick grey funnel. The downpour that followed felt like needles against my skin, and it plinked off the baroquer’s armor. The cyclops clutched its chest, and I held onto the baroquer for dear life as the wind threatened to knock me off. I searched for Varleth and Erin but saw neither of them as the storm raged above my head. All I could do was hope that they found some sort of shelter.
When the cyclops recovered from the initial blow, it ran its fingers through the blood that seeped out of the new gash on its chest before bringing the blood to its lips and smearing it across its tongue. The taste of its own blood must have ignited something in it to fight back because it reared its fist and landed a solid blow to the baroquer’s torso.
We stumbled back, but the baroquer planted its sword into the ground and gripped the hilt to keep us anchored. The cyclops took a large step and punched us again, and then again. Each time a blow connected, I could feel the reverberations from the armor race up into my legs, and the motion made my stomach roil with nausea.
I kept my cool though, and I commanded the baroquer to let go of the sword. When it did, it caught each of the cyclops’ bloody fists and pushed it back. My baroquer kept pushing, and the cyclops kept sliding through the rock and wreckage until the back of its heel caught a large enough stone to trip it up so that it landed it on its back with a loud quake.
Rain still pelted me in the face as the baroquer and I stood over the cyclops who struggled to get up. With the moisture from the rain, it made the mix of dirt and stone slick and muddy, and the cyclops’ hand slipped as it attempted to roll onto its stomach. Instead, it flopped like a fish out of water and floundered as we stood over it.
Thunder crashed, and lightning crackled as the baroquer took its sword in hand again. Without a single thought of hesitation, we brought the sword up and struck the cyclops in the eye, then the stomach, and for good measure, through the newly added hole in its chest. The storm broke apart, and the sky cleared, well, as clear as the Shadowscape ever got. The cyclops laid lifeless before us, and my heart swelled with pride in knowing that my connection to the baroquer was strong enough to take on a high-grade monster alone.
Drenched and windblown, I continued the search for Varleth and Erin. After a few short moments, I saw Varleth drag Erin out from behind a large pile of rocks that looked like it used to be the fountain in the courtyard. How it ended up all the way on the other side of the campus was beyond me, but I supposed that was the nature of ruins. Things ended up where they didn’t belong.
“Varleth!” I called down, but there was no response. It was likely he wasn’t able to hear me from all the way up here, so I commanded the baroquer to set me down nearby, and I raced over to them.
“Are you okay?” I yelled and skid to my knees. Erin looked pale and out of breath, and Varleth had a deep cut on his neck that was likely to leave a nasty scar.
“We are now,” Erin replied with a weak smile. “Sorry we couldn’t be of much help.”
I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you’re both safe.”
“What the hell happened?” Varleth asked.
“A rift opened up in the arena on top of the mock one,” I replied with a grimace. “We were attacked by a pack of chatteroshi, and I lost Gawain because he ran off to be a hero.”
“Not sure that’s really a loss.” Erin rolled her eyes, and Varleth and I both snorted.
“I didn’t want him to get lost in here alone, so I went after him. I ended up finding the two of you instead.” I finished my explanation.
Erin laughed, though it sounded pained. “It’s my fault we’re in this situation. I was low on magic. Even though I recalled my stagi, I didn’t have enough to fight back… but more than that...”
“A pack of gastrotoads were in our way,” Varleth finished for her. “We took care of them, but Erin got a full lungful of their gas.”
I nodded with a frown. I had my own gastrotoad, after all, so I knew how dangerous its gas could be. Worse yet, it was so insidious that it could seep through the standard-issue gas mask filters.
“I’ll be okay, though,” Erin reassured me. “I’ve got a tincture in my pouch that will give me a temporary boost of magic.”
“Let’s get you on your feet first.” I laughed a little, impressed at her determination to keep up the fight. “Can you stand?”
Erin scooted her legs up and propped herself against a large rock. Her thin legs wobbled as she tried to balance herself, but even with the little bit of difficulty, she managed to stand on her own at first. After a moment, her legs gave out, and she crumpled into my arms. Her small breasts pressed against me, and her hands gripped my shoulders as she steadied herself.
I smiled a little and pushed some hair from her face. “I think you might need more than a tincture to help in this case. Gastrotoad gas is nothing to sneeze at.”
A pretty blush crossed her cheeks, and she huffed. She knew I was right though I had a feeling she was loath to admit it. She nodded, though, and I looked to Varleth.
“Where is the catalyst?” I asked. I still held Erin close.
“Not far from here,” he responded and pointed east. “It’s just past the other side of the arena, I think.”
I considered my options. On the one hand, now that I knew Varleth and Erin were relatively safe, I should go look for Gawain, but he had literally disappeared without a trace. How was I supposed to find him in here without the possibility of losing myself in the process? Prolonged exposure to the Shadowscape was only one of the ways you could die on a monster response team.
On the other, I didn’t want to leave Erin and Varleth to fend for themselves, especially when one half of their duo was unable to even stand on her own, much less defend her banisher while they continued their search for the catalyst. If we found the catalyst, then we could go home, and this would all be over.
“Okay, Erin, my baroquer is going to carry you, and we’re going to find the catalyst and get you back so that we can fix you up,” I declared, and she smiled at me softly.
“That’s sweet of you, but I can do it myself,” Erin insisted, but when she tried to balance herself again, she immediately fell back into my chest. “Damn it.”
“It’s okay,” I reiterated. “Take it easy.”
I led her over to the baroquer who lowered his hand for me to lift her onto. I was surprised by how gentle the iron giant was with her as it cupped its hand and coddled her. Varleth waited for us a little further ahead and motioned for us to follow him once we were ready to go. I fell into step beside him as we climbed over the debris.
“You think everyone on the outside is okay?” I asked.
My companion shrugged. “Who knows? We can only hope that once we destroy the catalyst that the Academy is in one piece.”
I hung my head. “How does this keep happening? I thought the xanyarstone was supposed to prevent monster attacks from entering the Enclaves. That’s why they were safe in the first place.”
“And now two of them have opened up within the walls mere months from each other,” Varleth noted. “Something bigger is afoot here.”
“You think it has something to do with the random mission Sleet sent us on?” I questioned.
“I honestly try not to question the things that the Headmaster says,” Varleth quipped. “He usually has a reason for everything, and he doesn’t really take no for an answer, anyway.”
I laughed at that. “You said it.”
We fell silent as we approached the catalyst stone, and it occurred to me that I’d never actually seen one up close before. I stared at it carefully and studied everything I co
uld about it. I don’t know what I had expected it to look like, but it was a literal stone etched with markings that resembled that of the gate and was shrouded in black rhin. It looked to be about the size of my hand.
Varleth watched me as I examined the stone. “They vary in shape and size, but that’s generally what they look like.”
“So, you absorb that into you?” I asked, and Varleth nodded. “Damn.”
“What? You thought it was easy?” Varleth teased with a smirk on his lips.
“Don’t be like that.” I laughed and stepped aside to give him space to do what he did.
He held his hand out over the stone, and his hand began to glow a soft white. That quickly changed though as he absorbed the rhin into him, and the white soon turned jet black. The veins on his arm bulged, and they too turned the same shade of black. In front of him, the stone started to crack, and from that crack, it splintered, until it shattered, and the rhin had been completely consumed. We stood still for a moment as Varleth caught his breath, confusion wrought on his features.
We were still inside the rift.
“Does it usually take this long?” I asked slowly.
“No, it’s supposed to be instantaneous.” Varleth shook his head and then looked at me with realization in his eyes. “We only destroyed the mock catalyst. The real one is still out there.”
My eyes flew wide open. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” he snapped, though I had a feeling it was more out of frustration with himself than with me, something confirmed when he blew out a breath. “Sorry, Gryff, I…”
