Kanin Fyre: Chapter 35 - Backup

“Who are you?” Mura Tal demands. He narrows his eyes at one of our wrists, which he has pinned against the stone wall behind us. He’s strong.

We’re not going to dignify that with a response—not that we particularly like speaking like this, anyway. Instead, we focus on our core. We need to get it out from underneath Mura Tal’s blade. Beneath our coat, the void begins to subtly move.

“An illusion?” Mura Tal realizes. His hand appears to be clipped through our wrist like some sort of bad videogame graphics. That’s not good.

The void seeps into the cavity where we keep our core, wrapping around the vial. We Displace it to our other volume of void a few houses down.

Mural Tal’s grip tightens around our wrist, and the glass creaks. He frowns. “What are you?”

Not about to lose, that’s for damn sure. We unChain our wrist and dash to the side, slipping out of Mura Tal’s grasp. Our dislocated arm delays him for only one moment of surprise, then he throws his blade after us, aiming for our back.

We duck. With our core safe, it isn’t necessary; no damage done to our body will hurt the real us. But the movement comes instinctively, which is why, entirely by accident, the blade strikes our head instead.

The glass that’s levitating there flies away with the knife.

The illusion magic, unprepared for this scenario, simply stops projecting where our head should be.

Mura Tal freezes, eyes wide in shock.

The look would be kind of funny in a scenario where my life wasn’t at stake. Taking advantage of the champion’s horror at apparently decapitating the person he’d just been fighting, we spin back around and punch into his chest with a condensed ball of glass. Unprepared for the attack, he staggers backward until his back slams into a half-crumbled wall. Mura Tal lets out a gasp, hands slipping over the glass that’s pinned against his torso. We don’t give him a chance to recover, forming a Lightbeam and blasting it straight into his face just as he looks up.

The dhampyr screams, throwing a hand over his face. Hah! Guess a Lightbeam can hurt the Champion of Light after all—if it’s straight in the eyeballs, at any rate. We know that move is starting to get a little cliché, but hey, don’t fix what ain’t broke.

Abandoning our coat and humanoid form, we split our void and glass in two. The illusion sputters out, but since we’re still walking around without a head, the jig was up, anyway. Half of our void and glass fly off to check on Dizzi (and retrieve our core) while the rest continues our assault Mura Tal. We can’t afford to give him even a second to recover.

We touch Dizzi’s shoulder, and she jumps.

“Kanin?” she says. “I’m okay. Guess you were right—I kinda suck at fighting.”

We gesture toward the edge of the level and try to nudge her to her feet.

She glances over the edge. “I don’t know if I can fly. He clipped my wing pretty bad.”

We growl in frustration. How the hell are we going to—

Mura Tal throws our other body off with a pulse of light that strikes us like a physical blow. Instead of taking advantage of our vulnerable state, however, the light only glows brighter and brighter—until even our void has to look away. Then a condensed beam shoots into the sky, illuminating the clouds of the Drifting Isles like a strike of lightning.

As the light flickers out, its inverted colors are burned into the sky like a photo negative, lingering there for several seconds before fading out. Before it’s completely gone, however, we can tell it was the shape of a spell circle.

Uh oh.

Mere seconds later, the air shimmers on the far side of the square. Aquenno steps out of the rippling space, which settles back into a still night scene around him as he pauses to examine his surroundings.

Mura Tal keeps us in his line of sight as he glances Aquenno’s way. “I wasn’t expecting a response so quickly.”

“I was in the area,” Aquenno says. He flicks a hand before him, and a small, crackling ball of lightning forms, drifting slowly upward to light the square. “What’s going on here?”

Mura Tal narrows his eyes against the light, which appear significantly less wounded than we had been hoping. “Travelers. Several of them. I think they’re gathering in the city.” He gestures to the Fortress beneath us. “But that was before this… thing… interfered. I suspect it might be a remnant.”

Welp, there goes our cover. At least he doesn’t know we’re the Kanin he’s looking for. And now that we know champions don’t have access to the System, we’re only at risk of being discovered if it’s a god who is able to catch sight of us.

“Wise to put out the call. More backup should be arriving shortly,” Aquenno remarks, his attention not on us or Mura Tal, but the spell circle that’s inscribed in the stone beneath our feet. “What’s this?”

“I’m not sure,” Mura Tal admits. “Null magic of some sort. Perhaps a telepad.”

“No.” Aquenno frowns, eyes darting over the runes. “It’s a portal.”

“An escape route from the city,” the dhampyr suggests.

“Possibly.” Aquenno’s frown raises to us, and at that moment, we know that he knows what the spell is really for. He sighs, shaking his head.

Our soul sinks. For a moment, we’d thought he was on our side. That he’d come here to help. But he’s been explicitly clear that Blair won’t risk her position to defend us publicly. She’ll help us from the shadows—as long as we don’t step out of line—but defying Lorata’s champion is something else entirely.

And opening a portal to the Heavens is stepping over the line more than just a little.

Though, it can’t hurt to beg.

We open up Blair’s Contact interface.

[K̶a̵n̷i̶n̸: we need help]

[K̶a̵n̷i̶n̸: lorata’s champion is here]

But almost as soon as our messages appear in the window, they are followed up by different words:

[Message failed to deliver.]

Really? Now of all times?

“I have a refiner,” Aquenno says, reaching for a pocket. “I will take care of the remnant.”

“Good.” Mura Tal nods toward where Dizzi and our other half are hiding in a nearby building. “I’ll take care of the queen. Be careful, however; it’s stronger than it looks.”

Not about to let the direness of the situation get in the way, a part of us smugly preens at the warning. Aquenno might have gotten us in sparring matches before, but this will be different; this time, we won’t be holding back.

We form claws of void over our hands and tense, ready for whatever he’ll throw our way.

Mura Tal moves first. Aquenno is a split second behind. We’re last to react, but only by a moment.

The dhampyr dashes toward Dizzi’s hiding place. Our second body moves to shield her. Our first darts to the side in anticipation of Aquenno’s attack. He raises his hand, and a beam of compressed air blasts forward.

Straight into Mura Tal’s back.

We falter, stumbling over ourself in surprise. The dhampyr grunts, hitting the ground. Before he can rise, however, a dome has formed over the champion, rapidly contracting until it pins him to the ground.

“Get back to the Fortress,” Aquenno tells us as he crosses to Mura Tal. “The call he put out will notify any champions in the area. It won’t be long before someone else arrives.”

We shake ourself out of our shock. “You’re helping?”

“What?” He shoots us a hard look. “Of course. I told you we’re on your side, didn’t I?”

We’re starting to feel a little guilty about how much we’ve distrusted him over the last few weeks. “But Blair…”

“I’ll take the fall in her stead,” he says, kneeling over Mura Tal. His barrier has become skin-tight, and when he touches its surface, licks of electricity skip over the dhampyr’s skin. Mura Tal can do little more than twitch in response, thoroughly immobilized by Aquenno’s barrier. “After this, Fyre won’t be able to hide any more. I hope whatever she’s been working on will be enough to protect everyone.” He glances back up at us. “Why are you still standing there? Go!”

All our scattered void and glass converges around Dizzi, who we’ll need to carry or Displace down to the Fortress. We’re still gathering ourself back together when a shadow rises above our level with a gust of wind.

Concern overcomes us as we first assume it’s another champion—only concern, because we are not afraid—but illuminated by Aquenno’s lightning ball, the form quickly resolves into a familiar silhouette.

“TADA!” Ollie lands on the street just outside the spell circle. “WE’RE HERE TO SAVE THE DAY!”

Fyre leaps off his back, activating concentrated blazes of fire to blast over to Dizzi’s side—that’s new. And then, to our surprise, a second figure leaps off: Noli.

“Are you alright?” she signs as she sprints over to us. She runs her hands all over our glass, wincing as she finds cracks in our glass and a missing arm.

“Fine,” we sign, already Sculpting our body back together.

Aquenno frowns at the new arrivals. “What are all of you doing up here? Get back to the city! The danger is not yet over.”

Couldn’t have said it better ourself. “You need to go.”

“Of course,” Noli signs. “But not without you.” She looks over at Dizzi, who is grimacing as Fyre checks one of her wings. “Will she be alright?”

Probably, but right now, Aquenno is right: we need to get her out of here.

With some of our loose glass, we check out the saddle that’s on Ollie’s back. It’s big enough to fit several people. We gesture for Noli to head back over to the dragon. “Go back. We’ll bring her.” Once more, we split our void in half so we can Displace Dizzi up to his saddle.

“What are you waiting for?” Aquenno hisses, keeping a hand on Mura Tal’s back. His face is scrunched in intense concentration. “I’m not going to be able to restrain him forever. And that signal he sent up will attract more champions. Depending on how far away they are, they could reach us any minute. You have to get back to the Fortress!"

“What about you?” Fyre asks, moving away so we can wrap our void around Dizzi. “The barrier will keep you out just as well as the other champions.”

As gently as we’re able, we deposit Dizzi into the saddle on Ollie’s back. Despite our order to retreat, Noli has stayed by our side.

“Blair and I have made our choice,” Aquenno says. “I knew the consequences when I signed up for this. Now do you want to go down with me, or are you going to—”

We leap into motion as the shadows behind Aquenno’s back shift. We aren’t close enough. We won’t make it in time. So we throw our glass ahead of us, punching into Aquenno’s side as a blade stabs toward him. He’s knocked askew, his hand lifting off of Mura Tal’s prone form, as a spear from the shadows stabs through Aquenno’s shoulder.

The champion cries out, staggering to the side, and the spear is wrenched from his shoulder before he can stumble to his feet. We take advantage of this to use our glass to pull him away, rushing him away from his assailant. An arachnoid steps out of the dark as Ollie lets out a low, bone-chilling growl.

“FYRE,” he says, lowering his head and baring his teeth at the new figure. “WE’RE IN DANGER.”

For a moment we’re thrown back to Yedzaquib, and our soul clenches in fear. But this form is tan rather than white, and feminine besides. We Check her.

[Name: Zeyaelid]

[Title: Demigod]

[Species: Arachnoid]

[Class: Silk Paladin]

[Level: 81]

[HP: 650/650]

[Mana: 3000/3000]

[Allegiance: Lorata]

Oh. So even higher level than Yedzaquib had been. Great.

And another champion of Lorata? Seriously? How many does one god even need?

“One of Blair’s champions?” the woman says cooly. She looks down her nose at Aquenno. “I would not have expected sedition from her.”

Aquenno grits his teeth as he clasps a hand to his shoulder, blue blood seeping between his fingers. Noli hurries to his side, but there’s nothing any of us can do about his wound; he needs a healer.

We can’t believe we’re even thinking this, but we wish Rezira were here.

Mura Tal groans as he rolls onto his back. Zeyaelid watches this passively without attempting to help him up. “And I wouldn’t have expected you to be so easily subdued.”

“I was betrayed,” he snarls, stumbling to his feet. He bares his teeth at Aquenno. “The coward attacked me while my back was turned.”

Aquenno pushes himself to his feet in obvious pain, and we use some of our glass to help prop him up. He grinds his teeth as blood continues to stain his tunic, but looks unwavering up at Zeyaelid. “The situation is more complex than it appears. I can explain.”

“Really?” The champion raises her eyebrow. “Then please illuminate me.”

Aquenno falters. We wonder if he actually had a cover or if he’s just making it up as he goes; either way, it’s probably hard to think clearly while there’s a hole through your torso. We’re not expecting this conversation to end well no matter what excuse he comes up with. Which means we need to figure out how we’re going to get everyone out of here alive. And with a level 81 champion in the midst, that’s easier said than done.

We’d barely been a match with Mura Tal, and he’s only level 45. With Zeyaelid, our chances slim.

Can we outrun her? Probably not. Fight her? Not a chance. Distract her? That might work. But what could pose a threat to a champion?

We already know the answer to that, of course: a god. And we know of two gods who might be willing to help.

We open our Chat interface. Blair still hasn’t replied. Something could be interfering, or maybe she doesn’t want to be contacted right now. Either way, she’s not an option. Which leaves…

Shirasil. We still don’t know if we can trust him. And if we do call for help, he’ll find out about the spell circle we’ve been making behind his back. Not to mention, he’ll probably expect us to return the favor at a future date. None of that is great. And having to beseech a god for their help stings our pride. But it’s marginally better than being squashed by Lorata's champion, we suppose.

As we’re still mulling over our options, Fyre steps forward. “It’s me you’re looking for,” she says. “I am a ruler of the Fortress—”

“Oh,” Mura Tal sneers. “I didn’t realize we were in the presence of royalty.”

Flames burst to life around Fyre, framing her in an impressive and terrifying blaze. She raises her chin defiantly. “My name is Fyre, ruler of Fyreneth’s Fortress, successor to her vision. I am also a Traveler.”

“Ah.” Fyre now has Zeyaelid’s undivided attention. An unkind smile spreads over her lips. “Now that is interesting.”

Well. We’d wanted a distraction.