A Shadow Looms Ever Closer, Part 2

Concentrating on opening a channel over the rune I reached out to another of my companions.

"Mei, are you here too?"

"Yep. I'm climbing up the tower to your west right now. I'll be at the top in thirty seconds."

"Fantastic. Keep your eyes out for a woman in black plate armor, fancy blueish dress. She's your main target. Find her and take her out of the fight."

"Acknowledged. What kind of threat is she?"

"Well, she's the one who just warped in over a hundred more bandits to come play. And I have it on good authority that she's a void magick user."

"…"

Silence crackled over the runic pathways.

"Understood."

Mei finally responds and a faint pop in my ear indicates she terminated the connection.

"Luke."

"I'm here."

"I need you to get to Julius. His position is not good. They're surrounded by a lot of enemies."

"Way ahead of you, Commander. I'll be with the Vice-Commander in five seconds."

I rushed back over to overlook the battle just in time to see Luke running through the gatehouse.

His body shimmered in the torchlight and faded from view. A loud burst raced from where he was, and a small shock-wave followed behind.

A second later and he reappeared in the middle of the fight. His blades dance as arcs of blood spray from the necks of multiple bandit fighters.

A powerful new ability he'd learned, FLICKER STRIKE.

A mix of sonic magick and physical skill, it's a combat class ability that allowed him to jump into battle and attack a number of foes before they'd even realize he's there.

His sudden appearance in combat had a noticeable effect of the enemy forces. They were forced to retreat back from Julius' main force and regrouped into two wedge groups.

A bright glint of green energy on my left tells me that Mei made it atop the tower, and was preparing some sort of ranged attack.

Hopefully she had better luck than my four guardsmen.

After the main enemy force was ported in a number of spell casters started deflecting their shots with a magickal barrier.

The crackle of a communirune line establishing zipped in my ear, followed by the, very pleased with herself, voice of Mei.

"Reduction in enemy forces in three… two… one!"

A streak of green shot over top the battlefield bursting into a dozen shards at the center of our troops.

Those shards made their way towards the ground at tremendous speeds impaling the brigands below.

What seemed like it might be overkill, turned out to be somewhat less effective as the enemy force's casters seemed to have a few that specialized in healing magick.

Nearly half of those affected by Mei's volley were hit in critical spots and went down faster than they could be saved, but the other half managed to clutch onto life with the help of some area of effect healing.

Still an impressive counterattack from those two.

I was hoping the area damage from Mei's attack would flush out the woman in black.

But I had no such luck.

I strained my sight darting my eyes back and forth trying to catch a glimpse of her in the battle below.

When that didn't work I turned my focus inwards, trying to sense her aura.

If she was as powerful as Taurus made it seem, then maybe I could find her by trying to find a large disturbance in the area around us.

With my eyes shut I steadied myself.

Just gotta focus on sensing large quantities of Aethermist. Block out the interference from the sounds of battle.

I let out a slow, paced breath of air.

Focus, Airis. Focus.

A sharp jolt zipped through my head and I was able to create a mental heat-map of the pockets of magicka nearby.

With me at the center there were five other quite large clusters.

I ruled the one closest to me out as likely being Hailey, stationed below in a support unit providing backup to the main unit.

Of the remaining four, three of them were in the enemy lines.

One belonged to the Noblebourne prick-head shooting flames at Julius.

The other two seemed to be the casters in each enemy wedge formation. Those responsible for the barriers and large-scale healing.

The last one radiated an expected level of intensity. This belonged to the mystery woman for sure.

The only problem… was that it was behind me.

And to make things worse. She must have sensed that I found her, because the energy readings started to head directly to me.

I cut off the mental link I made and snapped myself back to normal space, turning towards the city.

While channeling the same thought to Mei, I addressed my would-be guards.

"Get ready for anything. She's heading our way."

Tomin turned his head to me with a flustered look. But nodded his head and readied an arrow, preparing to draw it back.

A thick mist started to form around the gatehouse.

The woman was casting some sort of powerful spell close by.

With a small part of my mind I attempted to reach out and pinpoint the source of the magick, but I was met with nothing but empty static.

The mists grew and twisted into dark shadows.

"Hey, Commander. I've lost visual on you. I'm heading back down the tower to your position."

"Thanks, Mei. Whatever spell this is, it doesn't look dangerous in itself. But my vision is down to about twenty feet—"

"Ghaaa!?"

One of the rangers ahead of me fell back into my visual range.

A red stream of blood sprayed out from his arm and he frantically grabbed at the wound.

"Shit!"

I took a step towards the injured man, but a blade came up to stop me.

Tomin blocked my way forward. A short sword in his hand, his bow left to wait on the stone floor.

In shadows, a figure moved towards us. The silhouette of the woman in black. Her blades held low, the sound of them scraping against the stone stings my ears.

Another ranger rushed to intercept her, but she moved like a flash of lightning.

He doesn't even get close.

The woman spun gracefully to her left, drawing both blades in line and slashed him, one blade hit the chest and the other sliced cleanly across his neck.

Through the mists a soft and melodic voice touches me, almost as if making its way to my very soul.

"Darkness creeps ever closer, tearful weeps betray expose her."

A shiver runs down my spine as the woman speaks in verse.

Was she casting some sort of curse?

If it was a kind of dark magick, nothing seemed to have happened.

Other than creeping me out to the max.

"Stop where you are, banshee. I'll not let you come any closer."

Tomin was now blocking me entirely, his blade at the ready.

The ranger I sent with Rias was unaccounted for.

I hoped that he was safe.

I reached out to Mei with a warning.

"Lady in black is on me. Not sure what her deal is, but she's got a real witch-of-the-woods kind of vibe. At least two of the waystriders are severely wounded."

"Ah, by the stars… I'm almost to you. Don't get yourself killed, Airis!"

"I don't plan on it."

The woman was now close enough that she was almost clearly visible through the mist. I was able to make out the finer details of our attacker.

Short gold-blonde hair waved wildly in the wind. Her eyes had an abnormal glow to them, a piercing blue—like the sky on a clear day.

Now that I had an unimpeded view of the warrior, I activated a quick appraisal to determine just how much of a threat she was actually.

Taurus wasn't very specific other than being a "danger" and an assassin.

A window formed into view on my left, just within my periphery.

- - - - - -TARGET- - - - - -

[HIKITA] (The Azure Rose)

HEALTH: (140 / 140) | STAMINA: (200 / 210) | MAGICKA: (700 / 755)

» TARGET SUFFERS FROM A NEGATIVE EFFECT: CURSE OF THE FALLEN

» ACTIVE EFFECT: AURA OF SHADOWS

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

What in the Aether is that under her name—Is that a title? 'The Azure Rose'!? Curse of the Fallen? Just who is this woman and why is she here harassing us?

It was clear she was no ordinary bandit. The level of magickal power she was displaying should be proof enough.

Take into account that she had used a warp crystal to teleport in a hundred or so people, and her MAGICKA was already close to replenished meant she either had some great potions with her, or her stats were insanely high.

"Tomin, do you have an extra blade?"

The ranger hesitated for a moment but drew a dagger from his waist and handed it back to me slowly, never taking his eyes off Hikita.

I tucked the small blade away behind my back along my waistband.

Drawing a sigil through the air, I channeled magicka through my palms and prepared a HOLY BOLT.

"In the light of divinity, be judged. Righteous Fire!"

The fiery ball of holy energy flew straight towards the swordswoman.

Annnd she cut it in half. Wait—she cut it in half!?

The woman's swords slashed my spell in two.

Each half becoming unstable and flying off in different directions, exploding wildly.

What kind of sword can cut through a holy spell?

"What was that noise? I'm on the last flight of stairs now—Hahhh!"

The sound of a door being kicked open echoed up from the southern stairwell. Followed by the hurried footsteps of a certain elf.

Mei came into view as she quickly traversed the gatehouse roof.

A barrage of arrows leapt from her bowstrings as she closed the distance.

The woman knocked each from their path effortlessly, eliciting audible displeasure from my companion.

Mei stopped next to Tomin in an awkward, but controlled slide.

"Tch."

Mei clicked her tongue, shouldering her bow as she stood.

A mild reddened glow surrounded our attacker. The trademark ability of Mei's Ebonfeather Eagle, Valiance, MARK TARGET.

Normally when the ability lights up a target there are a few bright spots indicating weak points.

Hikita, the wonder woman that she apparently is, has none.

"Damnable Ixians. You dark elves should just stay holed up in your ebony forests."

Mei holds her short-blade out threateningly.

The woman stopped and tilted her head slightly in response.

Her questioning look is the most emotion she's displayed this entire time. Even when swinging her swords her face had been blank.

But at the mention of the dark elves her interest seemed to be garnered, at least in some small amount.

I was going to ask Mei if she was sure this lady wasn't human, but with her curious look and obvious shadow magick. It made sense that she wasn't.

Her stature and appearance betray that conclusion.

She didn't look like anything other than a human, save the strange glowing eyes.

The weird metal plate covering the sides of her face had struck me as odd. It must had to be designed to hide elongated ears, rather than be defensive.

Mei gave some sort of hand signal to Tomin, and they both leapt forward at the paused void-caster.

Her blades came up to meet theirs in perfect timing.

The form of her parry was without a single flaw, turning both attacks away.

"A task unfinished, her will diminished. Prepare to slay her, the world betrayer."

More creepy verse-like words from the crazy woman.

"You're not slaying anyone else, you witch!"

Mei sneered, leaping forwards in another coordinated attack with Tomin.

The four blades flashed and sang out in a chorus of steel.

Using their engagement as cover I dashed around to the other side of the rooftop.

Carefully placing my hand over the ranger whose neck had been slashed at, I checked to see if he was still alive.

Barely.

He groaned in pain as I moved my hands over the wounds at his neck and chest.

Arterial blood still seeped from the deep cut near his throat, though weakly. He didn't have much time until he bled out.

I channeled energy through my palms.

"Blessed and divine light, I pray to you. Grant me the power of your golden flame. Bestow your warmth unto me and save this one from harm. Heal!"

Magickal power surged through me into the damaged tissues.

His cry of pain burst as one last yelp, and then the man passed out from the stress.

Such a deep wound being healed in a tender spot probably felt like tiny daggers to his nerves as the tissues were magickally forced to knit back together.

With a weak pulse and even weaker breaths, I left the ranger and moved to his companion who I thought hadn't been slashed as badly.

The ringing of crossed swords continued as I slid into place to find the man had passed out already.

A deep gash ran from his chest across his right arm. With his left arm, he was loosely holding a balled up mess of bloody cloth.

The entire right side of his body is soaked in blood.

No pulse.

I pulled the small blade I'd stashed away earlier and cut away at the soldier's frayed uniform.

With the full wound now exposed I poured energy through my hands and recited a major healing incantation.

The wound stitched itself back together quickly.

Okay, Goddesses. Please let this work!

With an internal prayer, I focused on that aetherial connection deep within me.

"Your soul hasn't completed its journey, Soldier of the Light. With this pathway I bid you to seek me beyond the veil and return, revival!"

The flow of magicka coursed through me into the slain ranger—And then rushed back into me all at once.

» RESURRECTION FAILS [NULLIFIED], SOUL IRRETRIEVABLE.