by Ian Rodgers
Just as she said that, the roof of the snow cave was torn away and blizzardy weather rushed in. Dora screamed in pain at the sudden explosive intrusion of the cold wind. Ain and Enrai fared no better as they covered their faces to protect themselves from hailstones and clods of ice and compacted snow that now flew at them.
“Found you!” a familiar slimy voice called out through the storm in a singsong tone.
“Selquist!” Ain snarled, peering through the vast haze of white at a pair of figures slowly making their way towards the party. The winter weather abruptly stopped, the clouds dissipating with a single gesture from the floating hand creature.
“Nice little trick, running away like that, but did you honestly think to evade us that easily? Give us some credit,” Selquist said disdainfully, his fingers twitching in a threatening manner.
At his right side, Bolgoros just huffed, his jaw frozen shut due to all of his drool having flash-frozen in his mouth. The fat spawn of Typhon did glare hungrily at Enrai, though, who whimpered at the unpleasant look sent his way.
“Son of a sword!” Dora swore, hastily strapping the Wailing Tower’s heart to her backpack. She scrambled to her feet and stood in front of the Elemental Tails protectively.
“Oh, don’t worry, we don’t want those adorable critters, we just want you and your two friends,” Selquist said to Dora, the eye mounted on his giant index finger twisting to follow her movements.
“I thought you just wanted me,” Dora said, remembering the way the two Void spawn had argued with the Queen Swathed in Vermillion about who had the ‘honor’ of killing her.
“Initially, yes, but after your battle-hungry companions dared to oppose us, well, brother and I decided it was best that we slaughter all of you,” Selquist replied, all of his eyes narrowing.
Ain and Enrai tensed, magic flaring around them.
“Dora, get ready to run,” the Monk whispered to her. “We’ll cover your retreat! Find some place to hide, ditch the heart, and then keep running!”
“I can’t abandon you two!” Dora hissed back at him. “Not now, not ever!”
“We don’t have a choice,” Ain replied solemnly. “This might be the only way for you to live. We’re just two mortals, you’re a Chosen One! It’s obvious which of us is expendable, and who isn’t.”
“NO!” Dora shouted, seeing her friends prepare to leap at the Void abominations. Hearing the grief in her voice, the two Elemental Tails immediately reacted by swishing their tails through the air and tearing open a second trans-dimensional portal.
Detecting the rip in reality behind her, Dora lashed out, grabbing the collars of the two stubborn friends, and dragged them backwards with her and the opal furred foxes into the vortex.
Selquist and Bolgoros both let out an inarticulate roar of rage and lunged forward, trying to stop them from escaping, but their fingers just narrowly missed, catching nothing but air and a few fading motes of magic as the portal closed as rapidly as it formed.
∞.∞.∞
“Where are we now?” Enrai asked after spitting out a mouthful of dirt. He sat up, looking around in confusion.
“Um, somewhere,” Ain said stiffly, staring out at a vast, cloud filled sky littered with floating islands of various size and shape.
“Elemental Plane of Air?” Dora guessed, shooting a glance at the two Elemental Tail kits, who yipped and bobbed their heads. “Okay, then! Guys, we’re in Aerum. Try not to fall.”
“Hey, why so pale faced, Ain? I thought you weren’t afraid of heights?” Enrai asked his elfin friend, who shivered and looked away from the bottomless drop.
“I’m not scared of heights! Just worried about falling for all eternity,” the Spellsword replied haughtily.
“Odds are you’ll eventually hit an island or flying creature rather than plummet for the rest of your life,” Dora helpfully said. That didn’t comfort the Grand Elf too greatly, and he just groaned and covered his face with his hands.
“We should be safe here, right? At least for a little while?” Dora asked aloud, hope in her tone.
“RAAAAH!” A deafening roar blasted through the tranquil realm, and the group flinched, twisting their heads around to stare off into the distance, where they saw the bulbous form of Bolgoros jumping towards them, hopping from island to island with great, bounding leaps. The force behind his jumps was so great, some of the smaller isles shattered and exploded, debris flying everywhere like shrapnel.
“YOU WON’T GET AWAY THAT EASILY!” Selquist’s voice boomed out, and the party watched as the hand-shaped abomination zoomed through the sky towards them with ease, murder glinting in his eyestalks. He flew beside his brother, ignoring the shards of rock that pattered against him along the way.
“Gods damn it, how did they catch up to us so quickly?!” Enrai shouted in disbelief. “Can the Elemental Tails take us away again?”
A quick look at the duo of ethereal foxes nixed that idea quickly. Their tails had dulled, no longer the swirling rainbows they’d been earlier, but grey and lifeless. Even their fur had lost its jewel-like luster. They panted weakly, and Dora grimaced.
“They’ve used up too much power too quickly,” the Healer informed her companions, who frowned.
“Wait!” Ain exclaimed, and he removed a vial filled with luminescent blue liquid. “The Mana Potions you gave us earlier! Could this help?”
“Temporarily,” Dora said slowly.
“Long enough to get us away from those guys?” Enrai asked, pointing at the rapidly approaching pair of Void abominations.
“Screw it, let’s find out!” the half-orc cried. She took the vials back from Ain and Enrai, and hastily fed the contents to the Elemental Tails. The magical foxes perked up as the potions flooded their bodies with a massive amount of energy, and their tails all but exploded with color after a few seconds.
“Portal! Now! Please!” Dora shouted, and the kits nodded their heads and flicked their tails. Another rainbow-colored vortex appeared, and Dora scooped up the Elemental Tails and ran into it. Enrai and Ain followed behind a second later, and it closed up as soon as they did.
Behind them, Selquist and Bolgoros howled in fury, both of them clawing at the air in front of them and tearing open holes to other dimensions.
Dora and her friends spilled out into an underwater wonderland, vibrant, multi-colored coral and sea life all around them. It would have been beautiful, if not for the fact none of them could breath.
“Gurgle! Murgle!” the half-orc cried out, flailing around pathetically as she couldn’t swim. The Elemental Tails shot her an apologetic look before their tails swished and they conjured up a new portal, hopefully which would lead to an air-filled reality.
Just in time too, as two new vortices ripped open in the endless realm of water, disgorging the bulk of Bolgoros and the disjointed form of Selquist. Their wrathful intent spilled across the watery divide, and the fish scattered in utter terror.
“Glubs of glurbs!” Dora swore as she saw her pursers. “Glug! Glug!”
Enrai kicked at the water, sending him shooting forth like a torpedo through the new portal, while Ain followed at a slower pace, his swimming skills not nearly as fast. Once they were through Dora went in.
All that was left of their arrival in the Elemental Plane of Water was a puddle of demonic ichor that floated around where Dora had been, and the enraged, waterlogged roars of two monstrous entities being thwarted again.
∞.∞.∞
“HOT!” Dora screeched as she tumbled onto cracked soil, her wet clothes drying instantly from the furnace like heat that greeted her upon entering the dimension. She jumped upright, panting heavily. The sweat that tried to form on her hissed away into steam, leaving trails of salt all over her skin. The Elemental Tails in her arms just looked around curiously, not bothered by the fiery surroundings.
“This must be the Elemental Plane of Fire, Ignatum,” Enrai mused, appearing unfazed by the ridiculously high temperature.
“No, really
? I would have never guessed!” Ain panted sarcastically, his ears drooping a little from the realm’s heat.
“How long do we have until those sons of swords find us again?” Dora asked, looking around warily for any sign of abominations. All she saw at the moment was a vast landscape of charred and cracked earth, with volcanos belching smoke and fire far off in the distance.
“Minutes, perhaps. Hours, if we’re lucky,” Enrai guess with a shrug. “Honestly, though, judging by recent situations, we’re looking at the former, rather than the latter.”
“Yeah, that’s certainly how our luck’s been turning out recently,” the half-orc groaned. She idly scratched the ears of the two fluffy monsters in her arms as she wondered about what to do next.
The Elemental Tails yipped and wagged their tails. Dora smiled at them, eyeing the brightness of their vital appendages.
“Based on the brightness of their tail fur, I think they can create another two, maybe three portals before running out of mana,” she assumed, and the pair of unique foxes bobbed their heads in agreement.
“In that case, we should make those count,” Ain murmured. “Can they take us to the Elemental Plane of Light? It’s the only other place I can think of that would offer some protection from the duo chasing us.”
“Well, you two? Can you do that?” she asked, and the kits shared a look before shaking their heads. “Why not? Too far? Too dangerous? Not enough mana?”
Paws tapped on her arms when she spoke the third query, letting her know they didn’t have enough power to enter that particular Elemental Plane.
“If I feed you some more Mana Replenishment Potions, do you think that’d be enough to fuel up and help you two get us there safely?” Dora inquired. A pause, and the kits eventually nodded.
“I see… let me check my pack, I might have some left,” the Healer said, and she placed the Elemental Tails down on the ground in order to rifle through her belongings. Not too long afterwards, she pulled out three bluish pills.
“These aren’t very strong, but should help,” she said, offering the condensed medicinal pills to the Planeswalking monsters, which they eagerly ate up, splitting the uneven pill between the two of them.
“Sorry, I only made a few potions into pills. Didn’t have the time or foresight to make more. I’d give you actual potions, but I’m afraid they’d just evaporate out here,” Dora explained when the Elemental Tails looked up at her, begging for more tasty treats. “Tell you what, next dimension we come to, I’ll let you have the rest of the mana potions.”
“Is that a good idea? Giving it all away to them?” Ain asked.
“We don’t have a chance against those two creatures, Ain. Running is the only option right now,” Dora replied.
“I don’t know about that. There’s so much Fire Element mana here, my spells feel stronger than ever before,” Enrai piped up. To prove his point, he conjured up a fireball, spun it one finger, and then tossed it away, where it bloomed into an earth-shaking explosion.
“See that? Before coming to Ignatum, that was a basic Spark Bomb, a Level One spell that makes lots of flash and embers, but does little actual damage. Just now, though, it did the same kind of damage you’d expect a Level Three or Four spell to do!” the Monk explained when the party looked at the scorched crater he’d made in awe.
“Well, that’s impressive and all, but is that enough to stand up to those two?” Dora asked after shaking her head, thinking back to how unconcerned the duo of Void abominations had been when they’d faced Ain and Enrai back at the Wailing Tower.
Enrai opened his mouth to say something, but Ain slapped a hand over it. “No, it wouldn’t be enough to defeat them,” the Spellsword claimed, shooting the Monk a warning glare.
“But…” the Monk began, voice muffled by the elf’s hand, only to be cut off once more by Ain.
“No. Those things said they were ‘of Typhon,’ correct? That means they are an existence far beyond our ability to defeat. Only an S-ranker or higher has a chance, and even then, it’d require planning and luck to pull off! They’re creatures who’ve lived countless eons, Enrai! Bravado is all well and good, but right now, we need cold, hard logic,” the Grand Elf said firmly.
The bald human sighed in defeat and nodded. He pushed Ain’s hand away from his mouth and looked to Dora. “Much as I hate the fact, Ain’s right. I could maybe, just maybe, hold them off for a few minutes if I went all out and relied heavily on the Elemental Plane’s ambient mana, but…”
“They’d still kick your ass,” Dora said, nodding in understanding.
“And have it for breakfast. Literally, in that fat one’s case,” the Monk said, unable to suppress a shudder that ran through him at the thought of the drooling beast that pursued them.
“Speaking of, we should get ready to run,” Dora said, wiping a trail of sweat-salt away from her brow. “Who knows when they’ll appear next!”
The trio flinched, and began to look around warily, afraid Dora’s words had tempted Fate and the pair of Typhon’s children chasing them would suddenly pop out nearby. When they didn’t manifest immediately, the group sighed in relief.
“Let’s walk for a bit,” Dora suggested.
“Away from the volcanos, or towards them?” Ain asked.
“Flip a coin,” Dora suggested with a shrug. “Heads we go to the fiery mountains, tails we don’t.”
Enrai chuckled at the way they were going to go about making this decision, and pulled out a rather worn and battered copper coin from his pocket.
“I’m honestly surprised this has lasted as long as it has,” he said, holding it up to show to the group. “This coin has been in my pocket since before we went to Targua!”
He then flipped the coin and watched it dance through the air, until it fell onto the dirt in front of them.
“Heads,” Enrai informed them, before bending down and scooping it up.
“Alright! Volcano sightseeing tour it is, then,” Dora laughed. “Come on, I want to find out if we can get close enough to see lava!”
Despite initially being rather far off in the distance, the line of volcanic ridges grew closer at an astonishing pace as the group walked towards them. And thanks to the Elemental Tails wrapping the party in a series of barriers to protect them from the insane temperatures of Ignatum, the trip felt nice and cool.
“This is taking a lot less time than I first expected,” Dora noted as she craned her neck to look up at the orange glow emanating from one of the peaks.
“The Elemental Planes are magical realms. Distance doesn’t really matter,” Ain said, thinking back to his lessons at the hands of his mentor, Tein Huntersteel. “Seems to me, though, that your genuine enthusiasm for visiting and observing the volcanos convinced Ignatum to bring you closer quicker.”
“What’s with the sudden interest, anyways? I wasn’t aware you were an amateur geologist or geomancer,” Enrai joked.
“I’ve never seen a volcano before. Aren’t very many active ones on Orria or Par-Orria anymore. They’re mostly all in Val’Narash or Drakon these days. Plus, back when I was kid, I always wanted to be an adventurer and wander the world, looking at all the neat and interesting things there,” Dora explained, before sighing wistfully. “Never got a chance to do any of that. Now, though, I have a chance!”
A smile crossed the half-orc’s face as she watched in awe as a volcano nearby seemed to burp and spew some molten stone everywhere.
“Beaches and snow are things I’d never have been able to see before in my old life. The most interesting stuff you get to see in the Dreadlands is weird shaped rock formations, sand, or a deadly jungle, depending on where you happen to be at the time,” the Healer said with a shake of her head.
“You don’t miss it?” Ain asked carefully. “Your old life, that is?”
“What? Being a slaver? Or being mocked and bullied for being a non-human? No, I don’t,” Dora said bitterly. “What I miss most are the people. My family. The Yellowmoon Menagerie was ev
erything to me after my mother died. Even if they were slave dealers, they were mine.”
“Now, though? I find out I’m supposed to be some kind of hero, supposed to save the world! All I wanted to do was to rescue them. I never wanted to go on quest, or travel through dimensions! But here I am! So you know what? I’m going to make the most of it!”
As Dora’s declaration rang through the Elemental Plane of Fire, it was accompanied by a series of loud explosions. Several volcanos erupted on cue, punctuating her speech with the fiery wrath of nature. She grinned viciously and bobbed her head in thanks towards the eruptions.
“Thank you for helping me emphasize my point. And the display just now was very lovely,” she said politely, and the ground rumbled ominous as if replying to her.
“…Well, that’s something you don’t see every day,” Enrai said slowly, eyeing the surroundings cautiously.
“We’ve seen crabs and sharks wearing butler outfits and an entire city that’s been built upside down that’s constantly digging deeper. The stuff we’ve seen every day in the Aether fits that phrase perfectly!” Ain chuckled. “Me? I’m just glad we haven’t seen hide or hair of our pursuers.”
“CHOSEN OOONNNEEEEEE!” An ear-splitting screech tore through the turbulent smoke and ash filled air. A pair of tiny dots appeared far off in the distance, coming straight for the party.
“Spoke too soon,” Ain sighed, his face paling slightly.
“This is ridiculous!” Dora growled, watching two shadowy blurs grow closer and become more distinct the faster they approached. “Do they have nothing better to do?!”
“I highly doubt it,” Enrai said as he strode forward. “But, I can make them regret it!”
The Monk began to conjure up dozens of flaming spears, which he hurled one after the other at the approaching Void abominations. The sheer number of Burning Lances he was able to generate was a testament to the high levels of Fire mana in the area.
Yet even with numerous Level Four spells flying through the air, the duo bulldozed right through them, completely ignoring the attacks and shrugging off any and all damage.
