Chapter 438 - A Dragon's Descent

This was my favourite chapter to write for a while. Hope you like it!

Hump watched, caught between awe and rising dread as Nisha dove from the night sky like a streak of stars in the dark, the golden tips of her scales shimmering with essence, much like when they had turned gold in the Infernal Halls. Beneath her, the woman that had received her fire breath flailed frantically in the blaze, her screams horrifying.

Nisha’s wings folded back, her body streamlined for speed, and then she was upon the ambushers on the roof. Shouts of alarm rose up from them, but it was already too late.

Nisha struck one of the rooftop archers like a falling boulder the size of a small bear, her claws outstretched like a bird of prey. The mna barely had time to turn before she slammed into him with a heavy crack. Together, they plummeted from the roof and smashed into the cobblestone street not five paces from where Hump and the others stood.

The ground shuddered under the force of the impact. Beneath Nisha’s talons, the crushed archer lay broken, blood pooling in dark, glistening rivers across the cobblestones. Nisha stood atop him, claws sunk deep into his torso, wings flared wide in a display of savage dominance.

She threw back her head and unleashed a roar—raw and furious. It rolled through the narrow streets like a shockwave, rattling the windows and sparking terrified cries from the homes around them. Somewhere nearby, a baby started wailing.

“Do not kill the dragon!” a voice bellowed from the rooftops, enhanced by magic. “Shred its wings but keep it alive. I want it captured.”

Arrows whistled through the air, streaking straight for Nisha while Hump could do nothing but watch. But Bud was there, throwing out a hand and conjuring Aegis of Ice, the blessing blossoming above Nisha in wall of shimmering frost. The arrows slammed into it and shattered harmlessly, falling as splinters to the ground.

“Fly Nisha!” Hump roared, his voice hoarse with desperation. “Fly!”

With powerful beats of her wings, Nisha launched herself upward, a fierce gust of wind stirring the dust and debris along the street. The Aegis of Ice cracked and crumbled as she ascended, ice shards raining down as she surged toward the rooftops.

For a breathless moment, it looked like she would escape—rising higher, clearing the trap they’d set—

Then a scream tore from her throat.

Nisha faltered midair, her flight jerking violently. One of her wings twisted at an awkward angle, scales and blood falling through the air. She dropped several feet, flailing desperately to stay aloft. Her right wing beat erratically, struggling against invisible pain, but somehow, she managed to keep herself aloft.

Fear. Panic. Agony.

Hump felt it all crash through the bond they shared, so raw it stole the breath from his lungs. His heart dropped into his stomach.

And then, without thought, without hesitation, fury ignited inside him—pure and blinding. His Soul Manifestation blazed even more fiercely, the alleyway illuminated by the twilight purple essence. The essence in the air became erratic, storming toward him much like it had when he’d been using Spirit Overflow while meditating on the River and Waves. His vision blurred at the edges. His hands clenched into fists so tightly his knuckles whitened, trembling with the force of the rage building in him.

They had hurt her.

And they were going to pay.

Celaine caught his arm, stopping him before he did anything. “Shield! Now!”

Hump was startled for only a heartbeat before realising that he had completely lost his focus. He brought himself back. Celaine’s words were all he needed, and with Accelerated Thought active, his reactions felt fast even with the poison running through his body. He glimpsed fire descending from above as he willed his essence out, a dome manifested around them with a thought, his essence pouring from his body in irregular streams. He roared against the pain, the essence moving through his channels like needles. Whatever poison was in his blood, it was hampering his essence and turning it against him, but the antidote was already working. He could feel his control a little.

Just as the barrier formed, a dome of blue essence, webbed with crisscrossing channels, a ball of fire descended from above. The spell shattered across his Shield like burning oil, scattering over the wall of essence and ground where it continued to burn, eating away at Hump’s defences.

“Nisha?” Hump asked through gritted teeth.

“She’s okay—an arrow through the membrane of her wing,” Celaine said. She was focused on her Belt of Storage. A few seconds later, his staff appeared in her hands. “Here. Focus on us.”

Hump drew a deep breath and took the staff, feeling reassured with it in his grip. As his essence entered the staff, the artifact thrummed in his grip, and immediately his Shield became easier to maintain.

“Bud, Emilia,” Celaine called as Bud’s longsword quickly materialised in Celaine’s hands, followed by Emilia’s rapier, and finally Celaine’s own bow. At least now they were armed. Step two was grouping up with Dylan and Lorissa.

Hump commanded the Sands of Osidium to spread out farther, illuminating the road ahead and the nearby alleyway on their left. He could make out figures beyond, illuminated by the sands in ghostly outlines, though no more.

“Numbers?” Emilia asked.

“Two slipping into the alley on our left, four ahead blocking the road,” Celaine said quickly, her voice a tense whisper. “At least one more archer on the roof. And a spellcaster. Maybe more.”

Hump grimaced, scanning the shadows, each second dragging out but already Accelerated Thought tugged at the edges of his mind. He pushed through it, focusing. They were surrounded, trapped. And whoever orchestrated this knew what they were doing.

One figure stood out from the rest—a small, wiry man wearing a strange mask that covered his nose and mouth, and thick goggles concealing his eyes. A thief’s hood was pulled low over his brow, further obscuring his features. His body was wrapped in belts—one crossing his chest diagonally, another around his waist, each packed with glass vials and stoppered flasks. A heavy pouch sagged at his hip, likely a Bag of Holding.

Some sort of alchemist, Hump thought grimly.

The others were easier to categorise—assassins, armed for speed and silence. Three guarded the alchemist, while two more blocked a nearby alleyway, and another held a bow on them from above. Short swords and daggers glinted faintly under the light of the sands. Every one of them was masked, their faces hidden beneath black cloth. Cloaked in dark garments from head to toe, they were nearly invisible against the night.

“Nisha, can you see the wizard from above?” Hump asked her, sending an image of figure in a robe with a staff or wand. “Find them.”

“Can Nisha see anything?” Emilia asked.

“She’s looking,” Hump said.

Nisha’s mind brushed against his—a rush of impressions and fleeting images. He closed his eyes for a heartbeat, focusing, letting her vision blend with his. Above them, spread out over the nearby rooftops, he saw them.

Along with the archer, there were three figures farther away, their forms half-hidden even from Nishari’s keen sight. One bore a staff that pulsed with essence, the runes etched along its length dull with blue light. The other two carried sleek wands. Wizards or warlocks.

The man with the staff stood apart, and even through their bond, Hump felt the pressure of his presence—a prickling sensation across his skin that made the hair on his arms stand on end. Power radiated from him in steady waves—this man was strong. Perhaps stronger than them.

Each wore identical black wizard robes, their faces completely obscured by a magical veil, a mist of darkness that clung to their features, hiding their identities and making them seem more wraith than human.

Were they after the spellbook? Here to kill them? Nishari? Or something else entirely? Hump didn’t have time to wonder.

A sudden glint from the street caught his eye—something small and fast flying through the shadows from the alchemist’s position. In his amplified perception, Hump tracked it. The light of white sparks poured from one end, falling like embers, leaving streaks of brilliant through the air.

An explosive? Acid? Something airborne?

There was no time to identify it. No time to do anything except watch as it landed on the ground before his Shield. The flask hissed like smoke from wet wood on a campfire.

It exploded against his Shield with a deafening boom. White light flooded the street in a blinding wave, washing over him with such intensity that he squeezed his eyes shut. Pain flared in his ears and behind his eyelids, a piercing, brutal noise like the shattering of glass inside his own skull. Black spots burst in his vision, and a high-pitched ringing drowned out all sound.

The force of the explosion slammed into his Shield, and into him. It vibrated through his bones in a deep, gut-churning pulse, unlike anything he had ever felt before. For a heartbeat, it seemed the world itself trembled—yet the ground beneath him remained oddly still.

And then, without warning, his Shield shattered.

A cold snap tore through him as the spell collapsed, and the essence he had been pouring into it rebounded violently, lashing back into his core. The backlash broke his concentration, Accelerated Thought torn apart before he could stop himself.

Suddenly, the world rushed back into full speed and Hump was left reeling.

His knees buckled. He barely managed to stay upright, leaning heavily on his staff, the only thing keeping him from collapsing to his knees. Half blind and half deaf, he was utterly exposed. He blinked hard, trying to clear his vision. The black splotches shrank slightly, enough to make out blurred shapes. Celaine staggered beside him, hands clampsed over her ears, her teeth clenched in pain—her sharper senses must have suffered even worse than his.

Before them, Bud and Emilia fought like beasts. Bud swung his sword in great sweeps, releasing waves of Frostfire that kept those on the street back, while maintaining his defensive blessings over them in a wall of cold essence. The projectiles rained down. Most slowing as they entered Bud’s Eternal Bulwark, but a few slipped through, hammering into his armour with bone-jarring impacts, staggering him.

Before Hump could move to help, he felt something wrap tightly around his waist. He glanced down—vines.

A heartbeat later, the vines yanked him backward, pulling him clear just as another fireball exploded where he had been standing. The world spun in a dizzying blur. Hump struggled to track what was happening. Shapes moved through smoke and dust. Bud and Emilia still fought, but Celaine was gone. He knew without seeing that she must have slipped into the shadows, no doubt searching for the enemy leader.

Hump had almost reached Dylan and Lorissa when a shadow flickered across the corner of his vision. An assassin lunged in from the side, blade flashing. Hump’s Cloak of Protection reacted, swatting aside the blow, but it wasn’t aimed at him. The blade cut the vine wrapped around his waist cleanly in two.

Hump fell heavily to the road, air bursting from his lungs. He gasped, then sensed essence stir. The ground shook, and the very air roared like an avalanche. Stone burst from the ground—massive slabs of earth erupting, rising in jagged, towering walls that cut him off from Dylan and Lorissa. Another wall slammed up behind him, sealing off the rest of the road where Bud and Emilia fought. He was sealed in.

Trapped, he could only stare upward.

The rooftops.

He pulled his spellbook from his belt, the pages fluttering wildly before settling on the one he needed. A spell he had never cast outside of practice, but he had no time to second-guess himself now.

Come on, Hump, he thought fiercely, focusing every scrap of will he had into the spell. He envisioned the rooftop. The physical gap between it and him was meaningless.

“Dimensional Snap!” he barked, and essence surged violently. Reality warped around him, compressing him into an invisible fist that squeezed him, only to release him just as suddenly.

In a blink, the world shifted.

Hump stumbled, disorientated and unsteady on the edge of the roof. His balanced wavered and he felt himself falling backward. He swung his arms around, steadying himself and planting his staff against the rooftiles.

He’d made it out of the killing zone, now he just had to survive a little more. Below, the battle raged on, but here, above it, Hump could see the enemy more clearly.

“What are you doing?” the powerful wizard at the rear snapped. “Air, finish him off! Water, find that damned girl.”

“I’m trying, master!” a younger voice followed. A man in battle robes with a wand turned to face him, while the second silently repositioned to find Celaine, leaving only the master to deal with Bud and Emilia below. “You there! What are you standing around for? Get him!”

The archer stationed on the rooftop—the one who had wounded Nisha—tossed aside their bow and drew a short sword, advancing with quick steps. Hump stepped forward, finding his footing on the roof. He didn’t have time to prepare a spell, so he gripped his staff in two hands and blocked the sword thrust that came with a Parry Shield, battering the man’s weapon aside. Seeing a gap, Hump stabbed at the man. “Blast!”

A wave of blue essence exploded barely an inch from the man’s chest sending him flying from the rooftop with a gurgled gasp, his chest crumpled from the blow. That was Nisha avenged, but Hump had no time to dwell on it. He sensed a spell on its way and whirled to his left, another Parry Shield across the head of his staff, bashing aside an arm of lightning in a burst of essence.

“Forget the girl, Water,” Air said. “I can’t take him alone!”

“He’s not that strong,” Water responded—a woman.

“Do you not sense that?” Air asked nervously. “It’s like the essence in the air is on fire.”

There was a burst of essence, and suddenly the master was beside Air, appearing in a burst of steam. “Water, keep the others busy,” the man said. “We need to finish this quickly.”

Breathing heavily, Hump faced the real threats—the three wizards stared at him now.  They were clearly Alveronian from their accents, which likely ruled out the assassin clan from the east. So, either he was dealing with warlocks, members of the Silver Circle, or perhaps assassins hired by Kassius. The nervousness was a good sign—doubt would make them weaker.

Fire and Water felt weaker than him—manageable, even if they came at him together. The master, however, he was not so sure about. He was strong. Maybe even stronger than Hump, judging from the Soul Manifestation the man used to try and take control of the essence in the area. If he was a Rank 6 wizard or warlock, they might have a problem.

But Hump didn’t need to win. He just had to hold out long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Already, city’s alarm bells clanged in the distance. The palace was little more than ten minutes’ walk away. Help would come.

That was, if Hump and the others didn’t resolve the problem on their own first. For the shadows were deep that night, and Celaine was no doubt on the hunt.

“Who are you all?” Hump asked, trying to buy some time. “What do you want with us?”

The wizards did not voice an answer, but their weapons shimmered with building essence as they prepared their magic.