The monster stumbles forward, carried by four stocky legs that crack the stone with each footstep, its black carapace curled in like it is trying to protect its stomach. Two huge arms in the shape of a man’s swing in front of it as it takes one lunging step after another, the space where the hands should be replaced with four knuckles forming together into a scything blade while a thumb curls into its hand. Its head houses four eyes so large they take up the majority of the area, the eyes multi-faceted and blazing with pink light. Set into its brow is a curling horn that reaches high enough to nearly touch the ceiling in the large tunnel. More pink energy escapes the monster with each breath, sticking and swirling about it instead of dispersing into the air.
Termite Hive Guardian
As it stops in the light, no one dares to move. The monster’s head turns about, its alien eyes roaming over each of us in turn. The Hive Guardian begins to stretch, a sound like a falling tree rumbling through the air as its back straitens, joined a second later by the scraping screech of its horn scoring across the top of the tunnel. As it stands to its full height, the underbelly of the guardian is revealed. Clawed arms move in a chaotic jumble down its chest, reaching out, pinching the air, and seizing.
“Absolutely not.” Dovik lunges forward, his blade thrusting at the exposed underside of the monster. The tip digs into the chaos of its writhing limbs for an inch before stopping with a dull clang.
The pink mist floating about the monster falls like a pillow cloud over Dovik as it turns its attention down toward him. The whip of its scythe-like arm is fast and inexorable, the huge weight of the monster following behind the thrust. Dovik reacts immediately, the man’s form vanishing as he tracks the strike, only to reappear in the same spot, the weight of the pink cloud settling on him. Jor’Mari flashes past me, but he will never make it in time; Jess does.
The edge of Jess’ chakram resounds through the tunnel as it collides with the reaping scythe, the parry perfectly placed. The usual speed that comes when she blocks a strike fails to come. Her hand slips from the grip as she meets the unstoppable force of the strike, the rim of her blade bending back and digging into her shoulder as she tries to carry the blow away. The next second is a blur, Jess crashing to the ground with a line of blood peppering the air behind her, the flat of Dovik’s blade catching the monster’s claw awkwardly, the snap of his wrist as he pushes the lethal strike of the monster just an inch to the side.
Jess’ shoulders bounce off the floor in the next moment as her body is hurled toward me. The magical attack I am channeling is forgotten as I move to the side, grabbing her before she can smash into the wall. Something in my chest breaks as we collide, the familiar snap of bone. Even with all of my will put into it, I can’t stop her, and we collide with the back wall of the tunnel. My head snaps back, the uneven stone cracking against my skull. The light in the world inverts, and numbness spreads through my limbs as I fall sideways to the floor. The last thing I see before the world goes dark is Jor’Mari stepping up to the monster, swinging his weapon with such enormity of force that the monster’s body bends sideways around the blow as it is lifted from the ground. Then, I am gone, sight replaced by darkness, the world replaced by dull and incomprehensible noise.
Roaring. The shaking of the earth. A warm trickle at the back of my head. Shadow on shadow; it forms a shape in the dark. I’ve been here before.
Lying on the stone of the forge room, a familiar thief looms over me. He sees that I am awake. His hands move toward my throat.
I strike out, forgetting instinct or tactic, scratching at the face above me. The thief’s face blurs with the sudden motion, a strong hand catching mine before it can reach my attack.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Charlene, it’s me.” Jess’ voice breaks the haze on my mind. “You’re okay. I have you.”
With each blink, the world comes more and more into focus. How long has passed? Beyond Jess’ shoulder, the men fight against the guardian, each ducking in and out of its range, never giving the monster a reason to move forward. As it roars, more and more of the pink mist seeps from its open mouth, drifting slowly toward each of them. The color hugs tight to them, slowing them ever so slightly as it accumulates. Eventually, it will be enough, and the blade of a chitinous scythe will slip through.
“I’m fine,” I say, trying to push myself up against the wall. My legs don’t work properly.
“We should retreat,” Jess says. “This monster is powerful.”
“How do you expect to do that?” I ask, pulling my staff out of the air as six globes of black sand spin into being above me, all of my weapons charging simultaneously with orange or green flames. “That thing is blocking the path.”
“The only way is through, then.” Jess stands, rolling her injured shoulder and hefting her ring weapon.
Her charge back into the fight is heralded by a fusillade of dragonfire. My mana already isn’t at its peak, and making an all-out attack like this is risky, not to mention loud, but what other choice do I have? As was the case with all of the other termites, my dragonfire is not especially effective. This time, however, I make up for it in the sheer quantity of attacks.
Explosions of fire blossom around the hive guardian’s head and torso in a light show. The monster begins to swing wildly, blinded by the cacophonous explosions, stumbling forward toward me on its slow and lurching legs. My friends do not waste the opportunity, each taking aggressive bearings as they close in with their weapons. An earsplitting noise rings through the tunnel as their weapons strike at the disoriented monster, most strikes accomplishing nothing more than sparking off chitin as strong as steel.
The only exception is Jor’Mari. Each swing of his unseen mace rocks the monster to the side, spiderwebbing cracks spreading from the points of impact. Harried, the monster’s swings grow even more ferocious, all subtlety gone as it swings its arms as hard and fast as possible. The scythe-like blades cut grooves into the hard stone with each strike, and it seems almost as if the air itself distorts around the sweeping blades.
Jess’ steely aura spreads out from her, only managing to make it a few feet from her body. After learning exactly what it does when we both reached the second rank together, I have struggled to understand why she uses it in battles against these insectoid monsters. These creatures didn’t have any blades that she could stop or control, their claws didn’t seem to count for that, no matter how sharp and deadly. Then, I see it. The guardian’s blade whips toward her, far faster than the strike she failed to block properly. In the instant that the blade slips inside of her soul presence, she moves, dodging the strike hooking around behind her without even looking.
With how overbearing the information that my soul presence strikes into me each time I use it, I never considered how useful it could be in a pitched melee like this.
My mana finally begins to run dry, and I have to stop my onslaught of dragonfire. The orbs of black sand floating around me slowly dull to their usual sheen, and my friends around the hive guardian back away as the air begins to clear. The horrific creature lurches forward, its face a mess of broken carapace and dripping blood. Most of its upper body has been burned clean by the fiery baptism, the thick muscle beneath the hard exterior ripped and fraying. The single eye still burning with light in its head turns in my direction, and it begins to stumble forward like a drunkard.
The monster doesn’t make it far. Jess swoops beneath its stumbling leg, hooking her chakram around the appendage and pulling it off-balance. Dovik is there in the next moment, the edge of his sword cutting into the soft flesh of its supporting leg, the minutes of battle more than enough to allow the man to find the guardian’s weak points. The monster slides as it tries to find its balance, screeching as it falls forward with enough force to shake the whole tunnel. Its head barely has enough time to bounce off the hard stone before Jor’Mari comes falling from above with his invisible weapon raised above his head. As he slams the mace down, rendering the guardian’s cracked and scorched head to paste, I can’t help but be reminded of Samielle for a moment.
The stones beneath the monster crack as its life is extinguished. The triumphant look on Jor’Mari’s face lasts only a moment as the ground beneath his feet shifts, the stone below him showing that it is not quite as sturdy as we thought. The cracks spread, running up the walls of the tunnel and across the ground until they have even spread over the ground near me. My stupid legs refuse barely cooperate with me as I try to move away from the wall, but my steps are stumbling and uncoordinated.
A brief sense of weightlessness comes over me in the moment before Jor’Mari wraps me up in his huge arms. He holds me tight, and somewhere in the swallowing dark, I hear Dovik yell. Together, we fall into the darkness, the shrill whisper of the wind stealing all sound.
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