Requiem Run

When we got over the hill Katie and Daniel had come back from, I could see the top of the temple in the distance, on the side of the mountain, with a set of stone stairs leading into the main building.

“We’re almost there!” Katie said, “Told you! See, this was super easy!”

“Yeah, it seems that way,” I said, “Too bad we still have to fight Xelsa before we leave.”

“If you’re being accurate, you don’t have to fight him,” said Daniel, “We could just cleanse and move on from there.”

“Not an option,” I said, “We have to get that gem off Xelsa.”

“Speaking of the dog,” said Katie, “Where has he been? You’d think he would have tried another attack on us or something.”

“Only he knows,” said Daniel, “This works out a lot better for me then, since I have to go back to the camp.”

“Huh? Why?” Rhys asked.

“I got word from the camp last night during my awake shift,” said Daniel, “Boss has reason to suspect we might have a raid on the camp. Wouldn’t be the first time, but they want all hands on deck.”

“So we’re going on without you?” I asked.

“I’ll keep a track of your progress and get the portal going as soon as the two of you cleanse and deal with Xelsa,” said Daniel, “Good luck, girls.”

With that, Daniel stepped away from the three of us and walked off into the woods, without a care in the world.

“I sense a lot of tragedy in that man’s past,” said Felice as we all carried on towards the temple, over a large wooden bridge, “As if he has trouble trusting when it comes to other people.”

“Oh, he’s definitely got a tragic backstory,” said Katie, “Guaranteed, he’s that kind of brooding hero type.”

“We can ask when he’s ready,” said Rhys, “In the meantime, let’s get to that temple.”

The conversation stopped there for a bit as we focused on the travel, and keeping an eye out for danger. Much to my surprise, we made it without a hitch.

“This is way too easy,” said Rhys when we made it to the base of the temple, “Where’s Xelsa?”

“Maybe he’s inside?” Katie said as she kept her dagger out, “Keep your guard up.”

We did so. My hand was on my sword, and I could feel Felice on my back, as if she were ready to take control at the instant. Rhys had a fireball out in front of her, ready to fire. The three of us made our way up the steps, until we made it to the top and could see inside. Much to my shock, the temple was empty besides the fountain, as per usual.

“Maybe he’s in hiding and he’s gonna jump us?” Katie asked, “Come on out, you puppy!”

“Xelsa’s not the kind of guy who would wait for us,” I said, “If he were here, we’d know already.”

“Good point,” said Katie, “So should we cleanse now?”

“No,” I said, “I want to take Xelsa down first. We need to bring him here.”

“And how exactly are we going to do that?” Katie asked, “Call for him? Just wait for him to catch up?”

“I got a better idea,” said Rhys. She mumbled something under her breath, and a ball of red light appeared in her hand. Before either Katie or I could ask her what she was doing, she fired it into the air, where it exploded like a firework.

“That should bring him running,” said Rhys, “So now, all we have to do is wait.”

“Ugh, I hate waiting.” said Katie.

“What if he doesn’t come?” Katie asked after half an hour of sitting by the side of the fountain, “What if he knows what we’re up to and he’s just going to wait us out? What do we do then?”

“Does Xelsa seem like the kind of guy who would come up with a plan like that?” I asked, “There’s no way he’d be able to stick with a plan like that, he’s too… excitable.”

“But…”

“Wait… do you guys hear that?!” Rhys asked.

Katie seemed just as confused as I did for a couple seconds before the pattering of feet finally reached our ears. As we turned to the temple entrance, we quickly figured out why.

Xelsa came running into the temple and let out a loud, wolf-like howl, so loud that I had to hold my ears for a second before he was done.

“Alright, I’m done with this crap!” Xelsa yelled, “You made a big mistake waiting for me here, and now I’m gonna tear all of you apart!”

“You’re more than welcome to try… again.” I said as I could feel Felice taking over my body, and we pulled our sword. Rhys’ formed fireballs in the palms of her hands, and Katie backed up so that she wouldn’t get caught in the inevitable crossfire, going for the spellbook.

“Three on one,” said Xelsa, “I’ve had worse odds before.”

“You don’t have to do this, Xelsa,” I said, “You can stand down and make this easier for all of us. Kydro’s already down, we know we can take you.”

“Can you? Let’s find out.” said Xelsa as he bared his teeth and claws at us, as though he were ready to pounce right on us. I felt Felice’s energy flow through me. I was ready to take this puppy down. Rhys threw some fireballs, but Xelsa dodged them easily, and jumped for me.

“Duck and raise your legs!” I told Felice. She did exactly that; just as Xelsa pounced on me, Felice ducked me and raised my legs, right into Xelsa’s midsection. Xelsa’s look of fury and hunger was quickly replaced by a look of shock and confusion, right before we launched him right into the fountain, making a big splash and sending water everywhere.

“Go for a swim Xelsa, it’ll cool you off a little!” I said as Felice flipped our sword in my hand. Katie laughed, and even Rhys chuckled. Xelsa stood up in the fountain, shook himself dry like a dog, and jumped out, grunting in pain and anger.

“You’re gonna pay for that!” Xelsa said as he charged and swung his sharp claws at me, which Felice side-stepped with ease.

“Oof, you really got that wet dog smell down, don’t you?!” I said as we swung at Xelsa and he was forced to back away, “A real shame you’re all bark and no bite!”

“I’ll show you bite!” Xelsa said, swinging his head wildly to get the water out of his hair. Some of the strands fell in front of his face as he growled at me. Then he turned and bolted for Rhys, who had been throwing fireballs the whole time. Xelsa was too quick for her.

“No- ARGH!” Rhys yelled as Xelsa slammed his fist into her mid-section, dropping her to her knees before he kicked her in the side and she rolled, unmoving, to the floor. Then he turned to Katie and charged her.

“Hey, no!” Katie yelled as she waved her dagger, but when Xelsa knocked it aside, she stumbled back and fell on her butt with Xelsa advancing on her. I rushed forward, sword outstretched, ready to impale Xelsa if I had to to keep her off Katie.

“Moor-acu, wait!”

Before I could register Felice’s words, Xelsa spun around and stuck out his fist, punching me right in the mid-section and knocking all the wind out of me. I saw Xelsa going for my arm before I closed my eyes.

Pain.

Immediate pain in my arm. Xelsa’s mouth was clamped over my arm, but I could still see the corners curled up in a smile. I started beating on his head with the handle of my sword, trying to make him let go. All Xelsa had to do was start shaking his head, and the pain shooting through my body became completely unbearable, effectively shutting down my entire body. Even Felice’s grip on me was lost.

Somehow, I pulled my arm free, but the damage had been done; the bastard had taken a full chunk out of my forearm. Blood was everywhere. To my surprise, there wasn’t that much pain. Instead, most of my arm had gone completely numb. I stumbled back and fell against the floor next to Rhys, Xelsa towering over me.

“Moor-acu, move your arm!” Felice was screaming at me, trying to puppet me, but my wounded arm was fighting against her, refusing to move. Xelsa was smiling widely, blood seeping from his mouth. My blood.

“Killian was right,” said Xelsa, “You do taste sweet after all. I think I’m gonna enjoy you.”

“Go… go to hell.” I said, still trying to move and my body refusing to comply. Xelsa just kept smiling and coming towards us, a razor-sharp claw raised.

“Not the worst last words I’ve ever heard,” said Xelsa, “But not the best either. Oh well, see ya never.”

I closed my eyes.

Then Xelsa grunted. I opened my eyes, and saw the wolf man lying a couple yards away. Rhys was still on the ground next to me, so I looked around to see where that fireball had come from. That was when I saw Katie, eyes widened, the light in the palm of her hands fading, on the other side of the temple, still sitting on her butt.

“Nice shot!” I called out. Katie nodded to me, still in a bit of a state of shock from suddenly managing to use magic, and I didn’t blame her in the slightest. Felice got us back to our feet, and we charged at Xelsa, sword out, ready and willing.

Xelsa tried to recover, but we were on top of him before he could and ripping open his shirt. There the gem was, right on his chest like the parasite it was.

“Katie, your knife!” I called.

Katie was already on the way, pulling her dagger out of her sheath and handing it to me as Xelsa started struggling a little more, slowly but surely getting his strength back, but as soon as I planted my dagger on his chest, he started howling and went completely limp.

I sawed at the gem and tore it off, just like last time with Kydro. Xelsa let out one last blood-curdling howl, then he went limp just as Kydro had done. I put the gem in my bag and rushed to Rhys’s side with Katie in tow.

“Are you okay?!” I asked.

“Am I okay?!” Rhys asked, her eye widening, “Riley, your arm!”

In all the excitement of getting the gem off Xelsa’s chest, I had forgotten that a chunk of my forearm had been ripped out. Now the pain was starting to set in, as if my entire arm was on fire.

“Ugh…” I groaned. It even hurt to move my arm. Rhys took it, causing me to wince, and moved her hand over my arm as she muttered something under her breath. The bleeding started to slow, and my arm went numb again.

“I’m not all that good with healing magic,” said Rhys, “But I can clean and cauterize the wound until we get you to someone who is.”

“Thanks Rhys,” I said, “I’m glad you’re here.”

Rhys blushed and looked away. I, meanwhile, had to look away from my arm, since the last thing I needed was to see was what it looked like on the inside.

“Daniel said he’s casting the portal to get back to the camp as soon as he gets there,” said Rhys, “It might take a while to get it going though.”

“Thank god.” I said, then I gasped as pain shot through my bad arm from the bandage being wrapped around it. Katie was watching, intently.

“I think I’m gonna try to focus on healing magic,” said Katie, “Something tells me we’re gonna need it in the future.”

“It’s not as easy as it sounds,” said Rhys, “I mean, like I said, that stuff’s really intricate, all about cauterizing and creating new skin, it’s a whole process.”

“I would go into med school if I manage to get a scholarship,” said Katie, “My school counselor said I might have had a slim chance, but that’s better than no chance, right?”

“Wait, you want to be a doctor?” I asked.

“Hell yeah,” said Katie, “I’d be all about saving people’s lives. How do you think I was able to keep myself from bleeding out when I chopped my own arm off?”

“Personally, I never gave the matter much thought.” said Rhys. I nodded in agreement. Just as we were wondering if we were going to have to sleep in the temple, a bright light appeared in the center of the temple, revealing a purple vortex that Daniel walked through.

“Looks like you girls had this covered,” said Daniel, “Turns out the raid never happened. Once you get cleansed, we can head back to the camp and regroup for our next battle.”

“Oh right, we still gotta do that,” I said, “Come on, Katie.”

“Right with you.” said Katie as she went by my side and we knelt down in front of the fountain. This one had a different spigot delivering water into the basin, one of a woman holding a pitcher where the water was coming out.

“That woman looks familiar.” said Katie. I was going to ask her for more detail, but she didn’t say anything more, she just leaned into the fountain and scooped up some water. I did the same.

As the two of us cleaned our faces, the water turned red the instant our hands went back into the water. Even though we’d already seen it when we cleansed after fighting Kydro, it was still a sight to me to watch the water turn red, and the red move up into the spigot.

“Fountain cleansed.” I said.

“Does that mean we level up now?” Katie asked.

“If you two ladies are done, we should probably get going.” said Daniel. I turned back to him, and noticed some men had come out of the portal when we weren’t looking to lift Xelsa in a wooden stretcher, then take him through the portal.

“Has Kydro woken up yet?” I asked.

“Negative,” said Daniel, “To be honest with you, I don’t think he’s going to wake up for a long time, let alone the rest of them once we get them free. Being freed from a possession gem takes a lot of energy out of someone. If Kydro and Xelsa were human, it might have killed them outright.”

“I can see why this crap’s illegal,” said Katie, “Can you imagine being forced to do all this crap for years and not be able to do anything about it? I wouldn’t be surprised if they go and kill the emperor themselves.”

“It would certainly save us some trouble.” said Daniel, “Right now, we should head back to camp so you ladies can get some rest and prepare for the next region… and the next fight.”

“Oh, right.” Katie said, “There’s still two of them to go.”

With that lovely reminder from her, we all went through the portal.