I Want To Go Home - 23

Kaiju Chaos

The priest was hurrying down the stairs, Ne’avo and Sukura close behind him and looking ready to try to catch him if he slipped. A reasonable fear with how ancient he was. Especially due to the sudden wave of knee high puffin folks running the opposite direction, presenting a serious tripping hazard.

“A Janzori,” the elven priest said, having managed to cut a path through the panicked villagers.

“Right, that’s what they called themselves,” I muttered, watching the massive octopus approach.

“What exactly are they, anyhow? Besides evil and dangerous,” Sukura asked.

“Liches infused with demonic blood,” Uké’el said, having managed to get through the panicking villagers herself. “More than that is known only to those loyal to the forces of Discord.”

“How did they know we were here?” Aara asked, slipping behind me.

“The Lady of Surgess surely has many spies,” the old priest said. “Perhaps even among the birds themselves. It is hard to keep any secrets from her.”

The giant octopus continued to approach. Weighing my options, it seemed the best way to protect the temple and the villagers was to ensure the fight was not on the island.  It would buy more time for the small folks to get to the relative safety of the temple.

“The best defense and all that,” I muttered to myself, before jogging forwards, flapping my wings to get airborne.

I heard some shouts of surprise and confusion behind me, but it still seemed like the best option to me. Rising higher into the air, I hoped I would be out of reach of the great beast’s tentacles. Soaring towards it, I felt a shiver run down my spine as I saw how wrong the creature looked, up close. It was almost like someone had mixed an octopus with a crocodile, in all the worst ways.

I decided to lob a mana ball towards it, only to have the Janzori rider raise a magical shield. The blast splattered uselessly against said barrier, providing nothing more than a light show. I tried again, circling around and hoping to overwhelm the defenses with the number of blasts I launched, but the dark warrior was faster with his defenses.

It was clear that keeping out of harm’s reach was also causing my blasts to take too long to reach him. It was giving time to spare to raise defenses, like an overly telegraphed sword swing. Grinding my teeth in frustration for a moment, I then dove, hoping I could be fast enough with a strafing run to escape to safety after my attack.

Getting closer, zipping past the Janzori, did manage to let me move and strike fast enough to get in a hit on the dark warrior. However, it didn’t do nearly as much damage as I’d hoped. And… I proved to still be within tentacle range by the time the beast reacted, grabbing me by the leg before I got to safety.

The kraken-y beast waved me through the air, jerking me left and right fast enough to become quite disorienting. I began to worry about losing my breakfast before it finally let me free… however it had whipped me with such speed that I barely had time to realise it had let go before I found myself slamming into a rockface.

I crashed into it with enough force to shatter the cliff face, causing it to collapse down onto me in a heap of rubble. With limited idea which way was up it took me a little bit to drag myself out of the rubble. By the time I’d managed, the giant cephalopod’s tentacles were reaching some of the outer rocks of the island and the great beast was pulling itself into the shallows.

The Janzori warrior atop it slid down a tentacle and onto the beach, drawing a dark blade as he did so. Another sword forged from discordance.

I rushed forward, trying to get between him and the others, only to have him toss a magical attack my way. I managed to raise a shield, but the force of it was still enough to send me sprawling. It was once again a case of there being too much distance to make direct assault feasible. Yet there also wasn’t much in the way of alternative options. I need to, at least, provide a distraction for the others. There were still villagers evacuating, the others helping them.

So, I charged again, trying to toss my own magical attacks at the new demonic elf. I wasn’t expecting any of them to get past his shield spells, but it would at least keep him on the defensive. He countered after a few blasts, being faster with spells than I was. Raising a shield, I stopped my advance and used the opportunity to check over my shoulder.

Aara and Sukura were helping to carry a number of young puffin folks up the stairs. Uké’el was working to blast at the kraken, keeping it away. The old priest looked to be deep in prayers. Lastly, Ne’avo was charging over this way. I knew she didn’t have the same ability to raise a magical shield that I did, and could therefore have her progress undone much more easily.

It left me little choice but to try to juggle holding up a mana shield in hand and summoning a magical beam attack with the other. I had to keep his attention. At least my sinking slightly into the wet sand kept me rooted as the strength of my shield wavered. The magic beam slammed into him, forcing him to focus on a shield. The length of the spell let me close the distance to him, swinging a magicka blade at the Janzori—only to hit empty air.

I blinked in surprise, as he hadn’t just dodged. He was gone.

Ne’avo, who was only a short distance away, was looking around with just as much confusion. I wondered if he’d turned invisible… until I spotted the demonic elf, perched atop a rock near the village.

Not far from where Sukura and the old priest were helping to get the last of the puffin-folks to safety. I let out a scream, before trying to blast him with another magic beam.

It wasn’t meant to attack him so much as to warn the others, but I was too late. He’d already leapt down, running the old priest through with his blade. Sukura moved between the Janzori and the villagers, drawing her sword to defend herself, but it was clear there was nothing she could do for the priest. I had only been able to stare in shock, stunned the kindly old elf had been cut down so brutally and unceremoniously.

Realising I needed to act (and fast), I pushed off into the air with my wings. I had to leave Ne’avo behind, as she spun around to try to run back to the village. Carrying her would have slowed me down too much.

Thankfully, Sukura was holding her own against the dark warrior. While he had an advantage of strength, she was able to redirect many of his blows and danced around the others. Still, she only have so much room on the stairs, especially with the need to protect the villagers added in.

I was able to land a short distance away, summoning a magicka blade once more. Clashing with the dark lich was too chaotic and desperate of a battle for me to check on the old priest, however. I feared the worst, but didn’t want to admit or process it just yet. That would distract me from the fight.

The Janzori warrior seemed to see the two of us as a threat and beat a retreat towards the more open beach. Sukura and I both followed, keeping up the offensive to prevent him from having a chance to pull any more magical tricks. I had also expected Ne’avo to join the fray then, only to discover the kraken had apparently gotten her.

She was being swung about dozens of metres above us. And making an impressive amount of noise up there, yelling at the top of her lungs. Unfortunately there was nothing I could do to help.

Still, Sukura and I were enough keep pressure on the Janzori. We’d defeated one before, after all… though we lacked the element of surprise this time. This one also seemed a better fighter, dancing around us to make sure only one of us had a clear path at any point.

Glancing past him as we lined up the right way, I saw Uké’el still had her hands full with the rest of the kraken’s many tentacles, Ne’avo proving little more than an amusement for the great beast.

Considering the sheer size of it, her battle may have been more important than our own.

“I will admit, I’m surprised… how much less talkative you are… than the other Janzori was,” Sukura said, between breaths and sword clashes.

“Kezzock was a smug idiot,” the demonic lich replied. “The new Vazehr has… proven herself and deserves… concentration.”

I decided to take the silver lining of grabbing onto the compliment. It meant I was seen as a real threat.

Unfortunately, it also came with Sukura having to back away. She needed to catch her breath. Which left me against the Janzori. Alone, he had the advantage over me still. It was nothing but desperate backpedalling on my part. A need to buy time by selling space and hope I didn’t run out of both too soon.

It was starting to get close when an ear shattering shriek ripped through the air. Even the Janzori cringed, protecting his ears, before turning towards the source.

The Kraken was screaming, throwing Ne’avo up into the air and letting go off the sections of cliff it had been pulling itself up with. Following the way it quivered and squirmed, I saw the reason for its distress. Whales.

Specifically, ones that seemed like someone had taken orcas and decided to make them more terrifying. The whales had swam into the shallows with the kraken, and were pulling great hunks from it with their jaws.

Moments later, they were joined by sharks and large reptilian sea creatures that seemed like something out of the Mesozoic. The kraken flailed about, letting out further shrieks, but the waters of the bay were too shallow for it to maneuver. It could only struggle to try to push itself out, towards deeper waters, as slowly as it had tried to climb onto land.

The Janzori rushed forward, letting out a cry of distress in another language. Perhaps he actually cared about the kraken? Or, perhaps, it was more like someone cared about their car, love for how it reflected on them, but no actual compassion for a living being. I could not tell.

And, before I could ask, Ne’avo landed on him, sword first.

It was far from the most graceful strike, but the damage seemed significant. His right shoulder was pierced, the greatsword bursting out towards his lower gut in a spray of dark ash.

The impact was enough to wind Ne’avo, who fell and rolled a few metres down the beach, but it pinned the Janzori, the sword remaining lodged in him and the ground. It also seemed that the holy blade was burning away at him, with the way he shrieked.

Well, that or he still felt the pain of having it lodged through his body. It was hard to tell with demonic liches.

Either way, I charged ahead, summoning a new magicka blade to strike a finishing blow. The Janzori began to dissolve as I continued to rush ahead, kneeling beside Ne’avo to check on her.

“I think I broke a rib,” she muttered.

“What? How?” I asked.

She turned to me, squinting in the light as her nightglasses had fallen off at some point. “The fall?”

“I thought the sword’s magic protected you?”

“Unbreakable skin doesn’t stop blunt impact… luckily my gambeson is magic. Does defense and healing… so I’ll get better, but… I need a minute or… thirty,” she muttered, before passing out.

Unsure what to do, I turned to check where the kraken was, and saw it was quite busy between the sea creatures and Uké’el continuing to rain magical attacks onto it. Ne’avo was therefore probably ok if I left her alone, and I didn’t know if moving her was a good idea. So I hurried over to Sukura, who had herself returned to check on the old priest.

Based on the wound in his chest, it seemed likely his death had been quick, at least. There had probably been nothing I could have done…

“Oh,” Aara’s voice said softly, as she rounded a nearby cliff. She looked absolutely exhausted, eyes lacking focus and footsteps shakey. “He…”

“It was so fast… I didn’t want to believe he’d died so quickly,” Sukura said, before whispering a soft prayer to the man.

“I… I suppose we should have a funeral for him,” I said, before another shriek from the kraken drew my attention. “I need to go help with that, though.”

-

Slaying the kraken had merely been a practice in patience. It was a beast. A nasty and somewhat cunning beast, but a beast all the same. Aara had made an attempt to get through to it, only to tell us it had been infused with Discordant blood. The dark forces had broken it away from the touch of nature…

That led to a still exhausted Aara insisting the various creatures she’d summoned to spit out anything they’d swallowed, once the battle was over. The whales had apparently realised it right away, being intelligent creatures themselves. The marine reptiles had worked it out when they’d bit the thing and it had tasted wrong. For the sharks, though… they’d apparently given in to the instinct to swallow anything they bit. A few, managing to look more innocently frightened than I’d realised sharks were capable of, had needed Aara’s help to purify themselves, the hunks of kraken meat too firmly swallowed to spit out.

With the animals out of harm’s way, we then returned to the matter of the priest. A few puffin folks had lead Sukura to a small ceremonial altar, though she seemed a little confused what to do at this point. Aara was left translating, explaining that the traditions on the island were for cremation. We all nodded blankly, Uké’el preparing a fire spell as the other puffins began to filter out of the temple.

Some began to cry as the mayor offered what were surely dignified words of remembrance for the priest. Unfortunately, Aara had fallen asleep by that point, held in Ne’avo’s arms. Calling the hunters of the sea had drained her.

I, meanwhile, leaned against the nearby rocks, staring at the sky. It had been my fault. I’d brought this to the island.

Letting my head roll to one side, I saw the damage that the kraken had done to the docks and the village and felt my guilt rise further.