The last months of Willow’s life had brought the greatest of tragedies and triumphs alike. The death of her parents still haunted her. Her father, who had endured the worst of rumors while keeping his benevolent if near-Tyrannical aims secret. Her mother, enough of her having remained to have undoubtedly been her despite the monster she’d turned into.
But then, there was her sister, her bond, and her class. The three were linked with her in ways she was only beginning to see. She had commiserated with Khiat about this, having to explore paths that diverged from the old norm of the Octyrrum. They wouldn’t be alone in the times to come, but they were the first.
It remained to be seen how long they would last. The spiritless monsters had rained down upon Pinion’s Point in numbers enough to overwhelm the static defenses and defenders who flew up to meet them. Dozens died before a single claw or talon touched a mortal, but there were just too many to handle all at once.
Daniel had bought time as he’d said he would, allowing the city to fully shelter those without powers in central or underground areas. He hadn’t returned before the attack, although Khare was certain of his survival. I should have told him not to go, but he seemed so certain. Her fear of what had befallen the man from another world almost eclipsed that of her own safety, but a beak tearing into her neck brought her back into the present.
Willow had tried to stop the four-winged monster with an insect stinger instead of tail feathers from getting to her, but she was still young in her class. Borrowing from the shy spirit inside of her to create the shield only prevented the monster from stinging her, but its avian head had still managed to bite after it had broken through.
She still felt the pain, but any damage was cured immediately as the monster brought its head out of the space just underneath her chin. An injury formed on Tlara’s current body in front of her. The dominated iridescent whitespring on the neck turned to blast the monster with its breath while her sister used the wyvern’s attacks to finish it and another in the air around them.
Willow wished she could do more to help, but she’d followed Daniel’s advice to round out her attributes before making any further advancement beyond 10. Relieving level disparity did give her a sense of catharsis, but working past that initial hit to endurance was a struggle.
Today would give her the last advancement potential she needed, she was sure of it. The team was fighting in the air close above the town. Khiat was hovering just above a rooftop and would utterly destroy at least one enemy per shot, whereas the bladed bastion that was Khare stood firm despite being surrounded. If the enemy was stronger they would be in trouble, but they were all relatively weak compared to the team’s average level. Spiritless too, all of them. She’d hoped to find at least one to save, but even the two permanent dwellers of the Astral were distant at the moment.
Willow continued throwing up shields as best she could, faintly sensing the mana within her fading as she did so. The density of the monsters still meant she took more injuries, but she trusted her sister and her bond to protect her. She had a sense that if this was to be part of her life now, she’d have to get used to pain.
A sharp shout drew her attention despite the words not coming across. Willow looked down and saw Janice below and a few blocks away from them. The spearwoman had remained grounded and was part of the force securing their compound, which they’d turned into a shelter with the help of Spinner. Her group had gotten buried under twenty or so monsters whose aerial superiority was proving hard to overcome. Other flying teams saw the danger and tried to respond, but those of the horde around them began fiercely throwing themselves at the would-be defenders.
Even Khare was hard-pressed to put out enough ranged fire to both handle those around them and intercede. Willow punched Tlara’s neck a few times and pointed, and her sister sighed before breaking away from the fight she was in. The horde tried to stop her too, but the buffs Beastmasters could give the ones they dominated were powerful. Combine that with flawless control and the greater constitution of a monster, and Tlara could almost contest the weaker level 4s in the town. Between that and the afflictive breath of the whitespring, they were able to cut through to where-
Willow was nearly unseated as Tlara rocked from a blow. A young ludegrund had just directly dove into her, receiving the worst of the trade with a large crack in the front spilling out some kind of white substance as it fell away. She’d been angling her shield to prevent the bladed sides from cutting Tlara, expecting it to pull away at the last moment.
Tlara continued in her descent, snarling as she just managed to avoid another direct strike. “They’re getting inside!” Willow shouted into Tlara’s ear to urge her on, seeing monsters spill into the central house of the compound while Spinner and the guard tried to deal with the ones attacking them and break through. The spider monster was sending shocks into the webbing she’d spun around the courtyard, frying those who got close to her defenses, but there were still too many. At least a hundred in their courtyard alone, counting the dead.
Willow was helpless to watch in horror as monsters rapidly exited the house with people caught in claws or roughly carried in beaks. Only those that could have carried people had gone in, though the defenders were also being pushed to the side of the island. The compound was close enough to the edge that the horde could toss people over after only going a short distance, and that’s what they were doing.
A tingling ran across her feathers as Willow felt the electrical charge build in Tlara as she considered firing lightning from her wings. They were at the entrance of the compound now, only ten or so meters off the ground and within her range. The current died as she decided the people were too close, and Willow agreed. That didn’t change how dire the situation was, punctuated by Janice herself being dragged over by the collective effort of five monsters.
Bright light shone behind her, and a brilliant arrow streaked to where the spearwoman had just been. Khiat’s powerful attack had been on target, but she’d noticed a moment too late amidst the rest of the chaos. While it didn’t save Janice, the eruption of energy cleared a space, at the cost of weakening Khiat from the recoil.
Willow and Tlara had to make a snap decision. Go after those who’d been taken through the gap that had just been created, or stay and defend Khiat. They both came to the same conclusion without having to communicate, and within seconds Tlara was diving off the side of Pinion’s Point.
The body her sister was inhabiting had no power to increase fall speed like the ripair hawks she’d heard about, and the chase stalled as they could only slightly gain on those falling. The horde was doing their best to stay under their victims, using them as shields, and not just here. Willow could see other groups falling further down that had come from another part of town. Thousands of people lived in Pinion’s Point, and they couldn’t fit everyone in the center. Daniel had given them time, but not hours. Tlara was doing her best to use her ranged mental attack on the monsters while Willow shielded them from reprisal, but there were enough monsters in the air to drag down any trying to slow their fall even with those they were killing. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
While it was just under twenty kilometers from the island to the ground limit, the speed they were falling meant they could reach there in ten minutes. It went by faster than she could have imagined, Tlara dodging and doing what she could to target the horde acting as shepherds for their unwilling flock. When those at the bottom of the formation began disappearing, she knew they were close to losing those that had been taken. Worse, Tlara’s head picked up and it seemed like her sister was beginning to pull out of the dive.
“Don’t!” she screamed, unsure of how well her voice was carrying. At the same time, she summoned a shield above where Tlara was headed and willed it to remain in place, rather than follow them. Tlara broke through it with but a moment of struggle, though it got the point across. The head of the wyvern turned to face her as she hovered in the air, not fleeing but not following those captured through the ground limit.
“We need to save them,” Willow shouted, more audible now that the wind wasn’t embracing them with a death grip. Tlara scoffed as best she could in her current body and motioned downward, the Spirit Master feeling a slight tremble through her bond. “I know. I don’t want to do this either and I have you to protect me, but there are people down there that need our help. Most of the others stayed behind. We need to go.”
Tlara didn’t move, and Willow had to remember just who was inside the monster she was riding. It was hard to remember how impossible her sister could be now that she’d lost the ability to curse at people. She needed the right motivation. “We still don’t know where Daniel is. If he’s down there and dies because we didn’t help him, your chance to get back in your body goes with him.”
Her sister performed her own calculations with that input. It had only been seconds, but Willow was painfully aware of time passing. It all seemed so much slower than when they’d been falling. Shifts in her perception of time had never been as exaggerated before, but now it was just something else to get used to.
Tlara sighed and dove once more, the colored areas of the iridescent whitespring lighting up as it charged its breath. Willow didn’t completely understand how Tlara controlled the monster while in the wyvern but knew it had something to do with her briefly swapping into it after every hunt, leading to the dominated monster growing more effective over time. If she had a spare spirit to give it, it might become even more of an asset. Unfortunately, they were as preciously rare as they were sacred.
There was little for Willow herself to do but draw on both the mana and spirit in her to prepare another shield. She threw it up as soon as they crossed over, keeping it moving in front of Tlara in case they were about to run into something on the other side. It was then she saw the one responsible for all of the pain and death.
The horde leader was a terrible thing that looked like a mountain of flesh twisted into a mockery of her form. One look at it was enough to know the malice within, though her bond was responsible for that. A spirit resided within, though one she would never touch. Its minions had been drastically reduced, but it still had a hundred or so in its immediate area.
Most were concentrating on their terrible work. Of those kidnapped from the town, some had been lucky enough to break free of the monsters around them and fall away from the horde leader, which wasn’t big enough to position itself under the entirety of Pinion’s Point. Someone would still have to catch them before they struck land, but there were enough Blessed active in Pinion’s Point to handle that.
Willow was more concerned with those held captive. They were being dragged to the large monster’s wings, and she watched with horror as Janice was thrown into one of the pits that dotted the bumpy surface. In seconds, flesh rose to trap her in, the completed structure giving the appearance of a cyst. There were already dozens formed.
“Don’t get close!” someone called out from the fighting below. She recognized them as the captain coordinating the defense of Pinion’s Point, though the name escaped her. He must have been one of those pursuing the taken townsfolk. “That monster can produce a powerful sleep effect. Everyone under level 3 is immediately knocked out.”
Saying this, he then stood on the air as if it were solid, drew a blade with hands that rapidly shifted back from wings, and swung out. The blade extended as he did, the extra separating a bit at a time to create a flying arc attack. It easily cut through the lower level monsters, but the horde leader didn’t react as it got winged. “We eliminate the rest of the spawn, and then destroy that profane existence.”
She wanted to ask about the people trapped inside, but the man flew away with that to pursue others of the horde. His flight wasn’t the fastest, and Willow guessed he was a Knight by the armor. One of the worst classes to have when they needed to kill quickly.
“I think our bond would protect me,” she told Tlara, who replied with an incredulous gaze. “I can sense a spirit inside that monster, and it feels like it’s gloating and… reverent. It isn’t afraid. If your whitespring can afflict it, we would turn off the sleep effect and let other people help!”
She saw Tlara inspect the horde leader and felt a shudder in the wyvern’s spine as she and it made eye contact. Whether it was the thought of a chance to dominate the creature, or the absence of any directly threatening powers, Tlara decided to act.
The wyvern swooped down, ignoring the light injuries she received as her pseudo-Regeneration repaired them. Between the sections of her body that were armored and the natural defense of the scales, she actually received more wounds by taking them on Willow’s behalf than being targeted herself.
At about 10 meters out, she could tell it had tried to use its power on her, but that only resulted in a brief moment of exhaustion before it passed over and Tlara yawned. The whitespring was entirely unphased, and grew slightly larger as the Beastmaster buffed it. Such measures hadn’t been needed on the chaff, but who knew what level this thing was?
The roiling rainbow spray painted over the left wing of the monster as Willow threw another shield to block an attack from the horde. They were being targeted by almost all of them in the immediate area, which had the beneficial effect of allowing the last of those kidnapped to be ignored.
The malicious satisfaction in the horde leader vanished with that, replaced by a tinge of fear amidst a sudden anger. Willow braced, but no attack was forthcoming. “Again, it’s working!” she called out, and the whitespring breathed once more as they passed over the right wing. It was a useful creature despite its lack of direct damage powers, especially with its breath attack not having a cooldown.
Something unexpected happened as they finished the attack run. A shimmering haze ringed the horde leader, a visible manifestation of mana. Can it purge the breath attack? “Tlara, you need to la-“ she tried to say, but the wyvern began to turn upside down as she flew up causing Willow to hold on tight. The maneuver brought them back over the horde leader without the need for a wide turn.
Tlara slammed down on the back of the horde leader, and the whitespring began almost continuously breathing down into the monster. Willow was left with the responsibility for defense, though she was beginning to run low on mana.
The horde leader tried to turn to throw them off, but its movement was laborious and slow. Tlara’s back talons could dig in enough that they wouldn’t be displaced. Another shimmering haze appeared after a few seconds, but none after that. Without its minions, it seemed the horde leader had little defense against its mana being suppressed.
Willow’s confidence lasted until one of the cysts on the wing began to open. While rage and surprise filled the spirit below her, she felt a moment of grim satisfaction accompany the split in the monster’s flesh. Her eyes widened when she saw the fur of the creature climbing out from within. If not for the pattern, she’d have no way of knowing that they’d just found Daniel.