18. Killbe Killed
Kill or be Killed
ETHAN
My hands become a vice around the gloom’s throat as I squeeze, piercing my thumbs through its skin and slicing the veins until dark blood spills out, and the being is no more.
We have been here all day, and it still looks never-ending.
The glooms come in waves, and my muscles ache and burn from extensive use, depleting my magic at a steady rate.
More and more glooms explode from the trees, surrounding us with a bone chilling howl, riding wolves they’ve killed and turned into shadow creatures.
We are halfway across the lands, past the Blanded Region in our rival’s territory. As a code, we never venture out this far, but a wolf shifter back at Rebirth spoke of heinous acts against her own. With or without our help, she was going. Angie too.
“Now, Ethan,” Alex projects from a distance. Beneath me, vibrations quake, and I turn his direction. Heading my way, I see a gloom making lengthening strides on the back of a sizable, freshly turned wolf. Its paws batter the ground with destructive weight, and my balance buckles .
I prepare for an attack as it leaps across the remaining distance and slams down a few feet away, forcing me to roll out of range.
The gloom clings on like a desperate flea to a dog, glaring with disdain before a flaming blade removes its head in one swift strike, sending it plummeting, and I nod at the Fire fay who eliminated it. One less student turned gloom.
Bearing its blackened teeth, the wolf snarls with sludge pouring from its half-decayed snout, and I grin at the challenge. It makes a run for me, and I summon my spear to meet it head-on. Black-like smoke whisks off its fur with eyes holding a deadly gleam. A soulless husk of destruction.
The shifter’s jaw widens as it dips low with the intent of swallowing me whole.
But I slide beneath the bite, evading its tar-ish drool.
With my spear gripped tightly, I slice through the decaying flesh of its chest, continuing through its stomach and out beneath it as it whimpers in agony from my attack.
Pressing a hand on the shifter’s back leg, golden sigils trace along what is left of its flesh, and I retract. “Explode,” my voice commands. Due to the monstrous beast’s size, my attack is delayed but not ineffective.
Golden light ripples over its fumbling body with whimpers of pain pouring out. I smirk as chunks of rotten meat and blackened blood cover the air as it finally explodes, coating me in sludge, paired with a foul odor clinging to my nostrils.
A ground fay rushes over, reaching for my hand, and I gladly accept it. Fatigue becomes an obstacle for getting past. Once standing, I catch sight of Angie, surrounded by a handful of those vile creatures as another deceased wolf charges towards her back.
“Sam, help Angie!” I order, and he rushes off to assist. Conjuring an oversized hand comprised of soft soil, he catches hold of them and squeezes until sooty blood follows a resounding *pop* of their bones. Those surrounding Angie are no longer a problem.
I follow, but target the beastly gloom instead, and my half-sister yells, “Freeze,” vanishing in a blink .
Timing our joint assault, I launch my spear above the putrid wolf’s massive head, preparing for our coordinated attack.
She reappears on its back with a roaring yell, catching my weapon and slamming it deep into the creature’s skull.
Yet it continues advancing, bounding my way and flinging her free.
My steps race to catch her, disregarding another set of paws coming up from behind. Terra, the student who is the sole reason for us being here, has shifted. All twenty feet of her rush past me, taking on her putrefied kind.
Terra is much larger than the shadowy wolves we face, and tonight, we couldn’t have been luckier. A blood moon. When lunar wolves shift beneath its mysterious lumines, their magic enhances tenfold. A perk we gravely need.
Launching myself with extended arms, I catch Angie in time, hitting the ground hard but relieved all the same.
“Are you hurt?” I grunt.
“I can heal,” she says, wincing in pain.
My attention returns to Terra, who blasts jets of powerful water from her mouth into the body of our foe. Her fur is aqua blue and white, mimicking a sea of waves. I am thankful we’re beneath a blood moon, and this majestic shifter is on our side, destroying the enemy with ease.
“Terra,” Angie calls, noticing two glooms with their sights set on her.
Without a second thought, vicious paws spring her high, and she crashes down on both, flattening their bodies and leaving a sizable hole from the attack. She prances to us, running her tongue over Angie’s face with a deep huff, making my hair flutter. And it dawns on me.
“She’s your shifter?”
“Yep. Tell anyone and I’ll ensure her teeth rip you apart.” Angie smiles, but we both know there is truth behind it.
We stand and Terra bows in greeting. Placing a hand on her mane, my entire arm becomes drenched in her fur. An Aquatic Lunar Wolf. The first of her kind.
Peering into her royal blue eyes, I nod with gratitude.
Not long after, others gather around, and I relax, finding everyone still alive.
Some wear deep scars and bruises, but are here, nonetheless.
“Angie, do you have enough magic to heal them?” It’s a big ask since she has been fighting at half strength, but if more enemies arrive, we will require each able body.
She answers by announcing, “Those severely hurt, stand close to me.” But as the three Goddesses of Fate would have it, hundreds of soot-ridden glooms come barreling from the tree line.
Screeching pierces my ears with sounds of metal scraping against glass. Their lightless bodies are wisping shadows. An assortment of tones shimmer over their eyes, hinting at what magic they now wield, and I tug on my reserves.
“Angie, stay and heal who you can. Terra–” She cuts me off with a growl, capturing my expression and hinting she understands her task of protecting Angie.
I retrieve my spear with one last look and rely on my natural gifts.
Using my vampirine speed, I vanish, reappearing across the field, meters away from the incoming glooms and their stolen shifters.
Alex joins my side, sweat dripping from his brows, and together we share an annoyed look.
His battle threads are stained from an uncountable number of enemies slain.
We’ve stacked our abilities before, so if we’re going to wrap this up, it’s now or never.
“Containment!” I roar, feeling the tug of magic pour from my hands, trapping them all inside an invisible box of my design.
Gold sigils take shape over their enclosure as they pound against my barrier with hopes of shattering it.
I pull on the little magic I have left, keeping our violent enemies at bay when a delayed, breathless wolf leaps from the woods, making a b-line towards Angie and the others.
I divide my magic, turning and tracking the beast, which causes my aura to falter .
“Focus, Ethan. They’ll be fine,” Alex advises, and I can sense the glooms’ desperate palms slamming against the walls of their prison. “Devour,” he snarls, raising a hand.
Inside the box, a massive slit rips through the air as lightning crackles around it.
Growing larger, it sucks every gloom and turned wolf into it, imploding their bodies after entering.
Those fighting to hold on are met with intense volts of electricity, and my symbols trace along their skin, pulling flesh from bone.
Sorrowful cries are swallowed by Alex’s galaxy pull and silenced as my abilities remove their heads. None survive.
Depleted, we release our spells, dropping to our knees and catching our breath.
My head has been spinning with an overall flaming sensation atop my skin.
Even now, my vampirine nature feels sluggish, but this drawn-out battle of dire proportions is complete, further increasing the knowledge of our foes and the information they’re after.
Facing the group, I recall an enemy who avoided my prison as relief squeezes my lungs. Exhaling, I see the blackened wolflying dead at Terra’s feet. “Thank the Gods.”
Breathless, Alex huffs, “We need to…report this. Not a single wolf of this tribe survived. A group of glooms couldn’t have done this alone.”
“I know, but this wasn’t an ordinary group of glooms. Some were special, wielding multiple magical properties and formidable. I can’t begin to fathom the amount of souls they’ve collected.”
“Agreed. I realized that after one spoke of devouring my soul. Lower tier glooms can’t form complete sentences.”
Footfalls sound in our direction as the group makes their way over.
Terra is back in her fay form, naked and coated in shadowy blood, still removing rotten chunks of flesh from her hair.
Angie’s eyes glow white upon arriving, and Alex stands, catching her as she collapses in his arms. Her blood pools beneath his shadow from a wound across her abdomen, too deep to heal .
“Ethan, we need to leave. Her aura’s fading!” Alex panics, knowing it’s our fault for her disastrous situation.
I try to stand and plop to a knee once more, my vision blurring with an ache clenching my core. Ever since arriving, something has felt off. Life draining in a sense. Regardless, Death tugs Angie into the afterlife, and I’d sooner die than let it happen.
Thinking alike, Alex and I combine sigils, placing a gold and black circle beneath our large group with a wide enough radius to fit everyone.
Mixed hues encompass us all, and we vanish, spawning outside our medical wing.
Fatigue teeters me on the verge of passing out, but I endure.
At least until she is safe and recovering.