Dawning Skye

382 A Losing Fight

***CONTENT WARNING: LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE, AND GORE***

Tidas froze, and signaled everyone else to do the same as Richard made a small pond-sized puddle of ooze. Once it stopped pouring out of his severed arm, the black muck began to bubble..

As they grew in size, several bumps in the ooze started to poke up. As they steadily grew to about six feet in height, a feeling of dread filled Tidas. A natural instinct screamed at him to run, but he began to shout orders instead.

“Get those generators going Now! Expand the boundary! Do not come into direct contact unless within the boundaries of the generators! Don’t let Anything get passed you! No matter what!”

The soldiers holding the generators took several steps back, to give the others room to fight. As the gentle buzz from the machines became louder with each one turned on, Richard became more erratic..

He screeched like a banshee as he gripped his head, and randomly swung at nothing. As his anger grew, so did his size, but that wasn’t the most concerning part.. The ooze that had been steadily growing had stopped at the six feet marker, but began to bubble and spasm.

The bulk of the muck gradually dropped off in chunks, revealing walking, mismatched skeletons coated in the ooze. They screeched like they were in pain, just like Richard was doing. Watching their reactions made Skye postulate that it wasn’t actually Richard or the creatures crying out, but the concentrated Darkness and Ether magic..

The thought sent a chill through her body as Skye wondered who’s consciousness it was mimicking..

Fae Earth mages had been known to create golems that took on bits of their creator’s personality; like temperament, physical features, or strong desires..

.....

‘If the magic is condensed and complex enough, who’s ta say it can’t evolve like everythin’ else? Is that what happened?! Did the magic gain it’s own consciousness, and overtake Richard? Was it natural progression, or forced?’

As a million thoughts raced through Skye’s mind, the creatures began to approach the surrounding soldiers. Skye felt panic rise up in her, so she did the first thing to pop into her head: she created a barrier for the soldiers.

The ones holding the generators had to keep them aimed at the battlefield, but needed to be protected while doing so. Large half pillars made or condensed rock and dirt shot up about four feet into the air. The other soldiers could also use it for cover in between rotated attacks.

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As Skye raised the last one, the creatures looked over at her, and screeched as loudly as they could..

Richard roared as he rushed at Skye with abandon, ignoring and mowing over a few of the soldiers trying to attack him. He wasn’t deterred until Tidas zipped past his backside, and slashed it open. The howl he belted out shook the ground, and put the fear of death in the forefront of the greenhorns’ minds.

Richard whipped around to swipe at him, but Tidas was already gone. Arthur zipped passed him next, causing Richard to jerk to his other side. Ralph was next, followed by Tidas again. The three chipped away at him, making sure to change up their striking order and placement constantly.

As Richard wailed and struggled, Skye helped the others take down the creatures. It was akin to a hydra effect: every time a soldier except for Skye took down a mini monster, two sprang up from it’s puddle. Within three minutes, the creatures had almost tripled in quantity.

Skye knew that she couldn’t keep up, and the soldiers had to defend themselves, and keep the creatures within the barrier. Not seeing another option, Skye mentally called out to Zazzy. She had warned her just to take out the little ones for them moment, then screamed for the soldiers to clear the area.

Right as the last soldier dipped over the barrier, Zazzy appeared out of nowhere. She took a deep breath, then unleashed in on the creatures. The black ooze had instantly started to boil as the creatures cried out, then turned to ash.

Richard screamed in anger, then tried to jump at Zazzy, but to no avail. She had turned her flames on him, and was torching him when she felt something grab her tail. As Zazzy looked down, her fear became apparent as she tried to flick the creature clutching it off.

As she struggled in vain, darkness tugged at the corners of Zazzy’s eyes. She turned back to the pit-like battlefield, and unleashed her flames on the gathering monsters. If she was going to fall now, then Zazzy wanted to take as many as she could with her.

Skye and Tidas both cried out as they watched Zazzy struggling, then fall from the air. She wasn’t very high up, which turned out to be a good thing. As she plummeted to the ground, Skye jumped the barrier, and ran to her side. Ralph and Arthur took it upon themselves to keep Richard distracted while the two rushed to their dragon’s side...

Zazzy’s breathing was labored, and her eyes were fluttering open and shut like she was fighting to stay conscious. Skye and Tidas called out her name several times, but she didn’t respond. The last thing they heard was her say was telepathic: “Sorry, Momma.. Dada.. I messed up..”

“Zazzy?! No, no, no, no-ZAZZY?! Come on, lassie; stay with us!” Skye screamed as tears began to stream down her cheeks.

“Zazzy! Come on, baby girl! Please wake up!” Tidas yelled with utter desperation in his voice.

Right as he called out to her, three creatures tried to attack Skye and Tidas. Amara ran over, and roasted them right before they could reach out. The two wouldn’t have been affected by the ooze because of the generators, but the creatures could still hurt or kill them.

Richard had used the bones from the ground to give structure to his creations. Random leg and arm sizes were the least creepy part about the creatures. One had an elk skull with mismatched human legs and arms with an oversized rib cage. Another had a human head with a horse’s torso, and six random legs of varying species.

They were truly monsters in every aspect of the word..

The soldiers knocked to the ground were ripped apart. Their pieces scattered, or absorbed into the creatures. It was a hellscape unlike anything anyone had ever seen.

As Tidas looked around at the chaos, rage surged within him when his eyes landed on his monstrous uncle. He had just grabbed on of the RMC soldiers, and tore him in half. He opened his mouth, and let the man’s blood and organs slip down his gullet as Tidas watched on in horror.

Enraged by the scene around him; Tidas charged at his uncle with abandon. He jumped into the air, then plunged his sword into his uncle’s chest. As he slid down the front of him, Skye was right behind him with angry tears in her eyes..

Ooze gushed out from the wound as Skye drove her two daggers into where she thought his heart would be. Richard was around fifteen feet tall at the moment, so all Skye could do was aim based on regular anatomy. What she didn’t know was that Richard’s actual body wasn’t in a place that they wouldn’t normally think to attack..

Massive damage was still done from their united attack, but not enough to stop him. As Richard roared in pain, the creatures became frantic and erratic in their movements. They lashed out at anything that moved, including each other. As the chaos intensified, Murdoc ran up to Skye and Tidas as they jumped back to avoid a sporadic swing from Richard.

“What’s the plan now?! Zazzy’s down! And Amara canna mimic dragon’s fire! What do we do?!”

Tidas and Skye shared a worried glance, but didn’t get to talk about it. Richard had suddenly stopped moving, as did his gooey minions. After a moment of silence on their part, they all started howling and screeching as loudly as they could.

Skye gripped her ears, and looked around at the soldiers. They were using the moment to drag the injured and the remains of the dead off of the battlefield. They didn’t want to risk Richard making more creatures, especially since they would be sturdier than the current ones, if made with the fresh corpses.

As the last injured person was dragged off of the field, the Moonstone soldiers surrounded Skye and Tidas. Captain Prigle and Lieutenant Donnelly were back by Amara, protecting Zazzy from the creatures as they neared. The others were keeping the rest away from Skye and Tidas..

Teresa locked eyes with Skye and yelled; “We need a plan, and you two are the best choices to come up with one! Just hurry! We can’t last much longer like this!”

Skye nodded, then looked at Tidas. His face was scrunched as angry thoughts raced through his mind. Skye sheathed her swords, then grabbed the sides of his face. It took him a moment to focus on her, he was so close to losing himself to his bloodlust again.

“I think I know how we can kill ’em, but I need ta get into the palace ta do it! Can ye help me, husband?!” Skye yelled as she searched his eyes for recognition.

It took a few seconds longer than she would’ve liked for him to comply, but Tidas soon asked; “Why would you want to go into the palace?! What’s the-?!”

“We need the Ethereal Spear ta beat him, Tidas; I know it! But I need yer help ta get it. Will ye help me?!”

Tidas stared at him wife a moment. He didn’t like her going on her own, but they were out of options. Right as he was about to give her the okay, Zazzy stirred behind them..

Amara was near her tail, torching any creatures that came near her backside. Captain Prigle and Lieutenant Donnelly were spaced out near the tip of her tail by her head, and her midsection. As she lifted her head, Skye and Tidas called out to her with relief in their voices...

When Zazzy opened her eyes, they were pitch-black. As the smile on their faces was replaced with fear, the dragon looked at the three people closest to her. She swung her tail hard and fast, slicing Teresa in half, and nearly doing the same to Mikey. As he slammed into Amara, they both went flying into the barrier that Skye had made.

Amara coughed up blood, then slumped over. Skye screamed in horror as Zazzy sat up to her full height, then started to attack the soldiers and creatures alike. Scared and unsure of what to do: Skye ran towards her scaly bairn..