[Skell]
When I plummeted from the roof of the cave and the ground rushed to meet me, I figured I'd feel death's grasp soon enough. I was half-right.
Arms curled around my back and legs to catch me with ease. But it couldn't have been death. Death was cold. Grim. Mostly sensible.
She couldn't be further from.
"Havin' a rough go of it?" the flame-eyed woman smiled down on me.
S-Soleil!?
Quickly we descended again. Fiery hair streamed through the air above like a falling torch, but it swung down in an instant when Soleil's sandals hit the ground. She wasn't shaken by the landing. I was.
"Wh-what are you doing here?" I jerked in her arms. "You-"
"'Scuse me," she casually tossed me onto the ground. "It's bothersome to brawl with a boy in your arms."
The cave floor wasn't gentle on my back; I turned over to my stomach with a wince. From that angle I could see Soleil beside me, about thirty feet from the final mummy. They stared each other down. But Soleil hadn't taken out her flail. Instead, she reached her hand high.
"Sulfuric Snare!" she incanted.
Soleil thrust a palm into the ground. Expanding from it came a yellow circle as wide as a round table, and within it spun several separate layers of letters:
The letter "B".
The letter "M".
And a lot of "O's" in-between.
Sense demanded I rise and run from the art's repeated thrumming. Soleil however - I noticed as I glanced back - couldn't have felt safer. She stepped back, letting her features glow menacing as if they'd been carved in citrine. Not that the mummy was at all intimidated. It lifted its arms and fired bandages at the woman's neck.
Soleil snatched them out of the air like a cat swats claws into its next meal.
"Must've lived ages ago, ya old maggot mansion," she coiled the bandages around her toned arms. "Wonder if your people had the same games mine do. Ever heard of tug-o-war?"
The mummy groaned in reply, struggling in vain to retract its wrappings.
"Ya don't? Then allow me to demonstrate. It goes a little something like this!"
Her yank was so sudden the mummy buckled to its knees. Soleil didn't capitalize. Patiently she waited for it to jerk itself back upright. Then she pulled again and welcomed its face to the earthen floor.
Gritting teeth into a smile, she tugged again. Its chest beat against the ground. She tugged again. It flipped onto its side. Again. Its spine. Each pull forced the monster to skirt nearer like a hooked fish reeled across the waves. Soon the mummy came closer to the Sulfuric Snare than Soleil was. She stepped further back and laughed as the mummy crawled to its feet - just to fail for the tenth time. Inches separated its swaddled feet from the rim of her art. Its fingers dug into the dirt to escape.
Soleil just cackled. Then yanked one last time.
Noise filled my ears like the inferno filled my pupils. Explosions shook the cave as an eruption of flame flung the mummy's charred corpse skyward. Smoke streamed behind its arc as it flew - 'til a hanging stalagmite crashed all momentum to a stony stop.
There was no debate; it was dead beyond all doubt. Legs had been blown to stumps and the rest of its body burnt blacker than soot. Even the collar lost all color, barely hanging onto its neck. The crunch when it finally returned to the ground could only be considered overkill.
If I hadn't been so preoccupied with other emotions, I would've stared at the woman in awe - who currently admired her own handiwork with a reveler's grin.
Soleil let the wrappings around her arms sink limply to the floor, then slapped hands onto her hips. "Nothin' better than the echo of a good explosion. The smell of cooked cadaver, though?" She pressed lips against her nose. "Less than appetizing."
Freakish. There was no other way to describe her power. But there was something more pressing than strength.
"Soleil?" I approached her. "Why… why did you save me?"
"Why?" A sinister smirk unfurled across her face. "Maybe I craved to kill you myself? You are the dark mage, after all."
I tensed… before catching the amusement in her eyes.
Urgh. Think you're so clever, don't you?
Her smirk slipped into something more casual, like a pair of sandals. "Or maybe I felt like pullin' off a daring rescue? Maybe I couldn't be bothered to hear the torment of a dyin' man? Could be I wanted more points. Or maybe it was all on a whim? Pick whichever you like most and tell yourself it's true."
I was halfway through working up a snide response. Then I balled it up like paper and let it fall from my drained fingers. "…Why are you here? And how? First I see you on a roof with Yamui, now you're down in this cave."
And speaking of him, why aren't you covered in blood?
"Huh," she threw up her brows. "Felt like eyes were pokin' my backside. Well, bird boy and I had something of a fallin' out. Weapons got pulled, names were called, but at the end of the day he chickened out and hit that button of his. Wasn't awful sad to see him go, hand to my heart."
Soleil went on. "Anyway, I wanted to bank more points, let myself run wild. Found the mouth of this cave on my little spelunking journey. Thought I'd find undead that weren't just more shrimps inside." She turned to the scorched body in the distance and blew an unimpressed sigh.
My gaze dropped to her wrist. Ten pips. And that's just what the bangle's able to show. Can't even imagine how many she's gained now.
"You're wondering why I'm still here," she intuited.
"I am."
"What? Never put in the work for extra credit?"
"This isn't extra credit. You're just enjoying yourself."
"An Abyss of a lot more than you, seems like. You, and…" Soleil looked around. "Huh. Don't see your partner anywhere. She off getting extra credit too?"
I winced. Memories of her strung-up body flashed to mind. My words came slowly, like they were being wrung out of out a towel. "She… was in a lot of pain. Penelle had to go back."
"Penelle? Penelle… Oh, right! Little-miss-pretentious! That's who you got shackled to-"
"Don't insult her!" the demand echoed off the cave walls.
Despite the outburst ricocheting around her, Soleil kept a smooth smile. "I'm only sayin' it how it is. Take a gander at how she was dressed. Stuffy doublet, fancy little poker - she's a fat cat without a worry in the world. Don't get your bloomers in a bunch over the truth; ya look like you're about to cry."
My fingers snatched the collar of her shirt. "You don't know anything!" I pulled her close. "About her, about me! You treat everything like it's some joke, like it's all thrills and games! Look where we are! Look what crawls around this rathole! They could've killed her and it's all because of me!"
No one was there but us in the dark. She was easily stronger than me even when I had all the mana in the world to burn, and I didn't even have embers, then. Not to mention, I barely knew Soleil. Maybe she really was the type to just snap and kill me. Especially after going through the effort of saving my life.
But my mind wasn't looking to the next second. It fixed firmly onto the past.
Her smile dropped like a sack of bricks. For the first time, the look on her face seemed to become something resembling genuine displeasure.
Then my entire body buckled from beneath me.
I crashed down hard on my knees, then doubled over onto the rocks.
"Your hand killed the other two mummies," Soleil's shadow stretched over me. "Wounds say as much. Blunt force and dark arts, not needle pricks."
My mind raced for a cause to the pain. Ribs screaming… must be broken… a punch?
"Not unimpressive," her expression was lost to a place worlds away from the earth I writhed on, "but not enough, either. If ya really mean to go the distance - and I'm not just talking about this First Ordeal - ya gotta step up. You, on your own. Not arm-in-arm with prissy girls and fickle boys. Make pals with the people that hate ya and you're just setting yourself up for a fall."
"Why are you… telling me this?" pain coated my words.
"Simple: because ya'd make for one fascinatin' Templar."
Her shadow passed the corner of my eye; footsteps drew further away.
"If ya can avoid getting booted or joining these corpses," she continued, "I want to chat tonight. Just you and me. Oh, and no hard feelings about that sneaky hit? I treasure my personal space, is all. You get it."
By the time my bones mended enough to let me turn back, she was gone. But not because she'd pressed her button; I would've noticed the flash of light. Instead, she must've forged further into the cave's depths.
Urgh… shading lunatic. I ought to-
Agony bit into me when I tried to move too fast, too soon. I dropped onto my back, staring up at the spiked roof. Immobility helped cool my anger.
…Save me, then spit on Penelle. Punch me, then give advice. What's her deal? She says don't make pals with the people that hate you, but… does that include her? I'd be crazy to still think she hates dark mages after all this - unlike everyone else. With no one I can trust in the Ordeals… anymore, maybe I should-
I threw a hand onto my face, staring between fingers. What are you thinking!? She's bad news. Just because someone doesn't despise you doesn't mean they're worth having around. Or even listening to. No. You're alone now. Again.
…So get used to it.
I sat there for some time, thinking. But not long enough for my ribs to fully click back into place before I shot up, a glint in my eye robbing the entirety of my attention. In the distance shined a narrow object.
Penelle's épée.
My body probably protested my rush to pick it up. I didn't hear it. Fingers latched around the hilt as I brought it closer to my eyes.
She… she must've dropped this during the fight.
With nearby pieces of torn wrapping, I gingerly rubbed off its coat of black blood. I was never one to appreciate art for more than a handful of seconds, but the craftmanship and elegance of the weapon underneath even had me gawking. All it missed was its scabbard. After some bitter retrospection, I realized it was with the fencer when I pressed her button.
The épée balanced - almost weightless - in my right hand. This isn't mine. I don't know if she's… alive or not, but either way, it should be returned.
Coming into view beside it however, was my bangle.
Nine pips. Abyss. Soleil nabbed the last mummies' points, didn't she? I was an inch from escaping this nightmare. But… I can't call it quits now. Even if I'm out of arts and weak as tissue paper. Penelle's sacrifice would've been for nothing.
A fist tightened around the staff in my left hand. One more point. Just one more. I'll gain it and return Penelle her weapon. It's the least I can do.
And there's no time to lose.
—————————————————————————————–————
Foreboding and wariness haunted my entire exodus to the mouth of the cave.
Sure, Soleil came from that direction; no way she'd leave any undead in her path un-barbecued. But chances weren't something I could take, then. Without a Shroud my steps were ungainly and the staff weighed heavy in my grip. Prime pickings for another mummy. Probably a husk too, if I didn't leverage my training perfectly.
But in time, I realized I lucked out. There wasn't a single monster between the darkness of the cave walls.
Because they all waited for me outside.
I froze inside the circular jaws of the cave. Not because of terror at my impending death… but in shock of theirs coming first.
Scorched limbs and blackened bones cluttered the field around the cave's entrance. Ashes and crisped flies sprinkled the colorless dirt underfoot like pepper on a revolting dish, spiced up by the occasional unattached claw reaching into the stale air.
What in the Abyss!? Husks and skeletons, exterminated like flies. Just how many points is all this?
For a moment, my eyes averted from the scene of absolute carnage. High above loomed the vast rocky ceiling of The Dross - one I'd been under for way too long. Though this time I saw it from an unfamiliar angle. Dim, dilapidated buildings rose in the faraway distance, their size and frequency tapering off 'til a broken few stood between the heart of town and me. Judging by the many rows of desiccated crops ahead - limply crouching to a knee's height - the cave opened up near the farmland. I chose to head further that way. But first, I had to pass the bodies.
I delved forward like I walked on eggshells. Corpses were mutilated in ways of macabre creativity, and the odor, I imagined, must've been its own brand of horror. Even those I could stand to look at - which just so happened to align with those still recognizable as humanoid - were terribly disfigured. At first, I was concerned that some were still active.
Now I was certain none were.
A stroke of luck? I thought so. 'Til I gave it more thought.
Great. Easiest way to nick one last point would be to finish off one of these guys, but the husks don't even fidget, and there isn't a single light in any of these skeleton's heads. Why can't things ever be easy?
Desperately clinging to hope, I prodded some of the least pulverized bodies I passed. No luck. Part of me wanted to shout, so loud the capital above would hear my frustration. I didn't. Half because that'd draw way too much attention.
And half because someone already beat me to the punch.
Screams. Incantations. Shrieks. Silence.
From the direction of the town, those noises echoed. I froze.
They… probably hit their button in time. Got away. Yeah-
My boot hit something while I gazed off into the distance. A body, different from the others. Unburnt. Human.
Something forced its way out of my mouth and spilled near the bloodbath at my feet. By the time I realized what it was, a second wave rushed to follow the first.
Bile. An illusion of it, sure, but I knew better than anyone that everything my glamour displayed was what I would if I were alive. But even I had more life than the man I couldn't tear my gaze away from.
He's… in scraps. What'd they do to him…? I wiped a shaky hand across my lips. Green hair? I've seen him. Ramon. One of the first they called. Now he's… this. Should I-
I reached absent-mindedly for his button. Just to find the bangle clawed into. Destroyed.
He didn't even have a choice…
My world shifted into one that refused to keep itself straight. Besides my own, sanitized skeleton, I'd never seen a dead body. Those near-death, or undead? That's one thing. But someone truly, unambiguously deceased? I didn't know the man. I'd never get the chance to. He was just another soul, now. Lost to the Ordeals. Like the son of that blacksmith.
I fought to still my legs, but my fingers wouldn't quit trembling. I could tell myself any number of things: that where I stood was dangerous, that he probably hated me for being a dark mage, that plenty of others probably shared his fate. None of them helped; the last one made it worse.
'Til I remembered a phrase that came from another mouth:
Step up.
Harden yourself. You're making it to the end, aren't you? Then you can't be vulnerable. Can't fret over everyone else. Move on and claim your last point.
I stepped around the body, eyes ahead.
Though they did flick back. For the briefest of moments.
"…Sorry," I whispered.
Then I left the body behind. No matter what came, I couldn't end up like him.
—————————————————————————————————
Sounds of battle grew louder as I stomped over long-dead crops.
Soon, mounds started to rise in the earth. High ground, Amara emphasized, was a crucial advantage in battle. And considering my mana still hadn't replenished enough to reignite my Shroud, I needed every one of those I could collect. I took to it and stayed low. No advantage was better than the element of surprise, I figured.
Bodies started to appear in the lowland at my right. One human for every three or four undead scattered among the shoveled dirt. I could see the pips on their bangles. Six. Two. Zero. Seven. Ten…
With effort, I fixed my eyes ahead and continued, whispering for those I passed a silent prayer.
Either this was one big battle, or several took place near one another. Don't know which'll be better to find, once I stumble across the source of this noise.
The source didn't take long to make itself known, however. A moist sound of flesh being split clung to my ears. It came from beyond the mound I crouched on.
I hurried to the top of it. Once there, I slipped my eyes down its curvature.
Not far below was several frantic figures.
Multiple husks and skeletons, chasing a dark-skinned man all by his lonesome.
Niles Hawthorne.