Nythe (2)

Although she had already found the hostages, Sahaela wanted to explore the other storage houses more thoroughly. There was still the nagging suspicion in her mind that there was something she had missed.

And at the worst could potentially take out one or two of the guards, if she got lucky.

One of the first things she had mastered after dying was turning invisible. Though to be fair to say she had mastered it would only be half-true, it was a natural part of being a ghost and it was more that she became aware of how to adjust it. As simple as turning on a light switch, a conscious choice to not be perceived.

Moving through the largest of the warehouses Sahaela had found something rather sizable taking up almost the entire length of the room covered by some kind of . Yet moving through it and looking at it from various angles she could not quite tell what it was, some type of engine perhaps?

There were three guards and while she knew that with her ability to possess she could take one of them easily enough, she had not been much of a fighter before or after she got pulled into this world. She was not overly confident she could fight two of them, though it would be different if any of them possessed mana but that was not the case.

Her options at the moment were limited, using her own magic would diminish her anchor to reality, and so possession was the only real option.

“Welp, you’re up short stuff,” Sahaela said—more to herself than anyone else—before lowering her ghostly body over the thin reedy looking individual. He looked like Beau and she had grown quite fond of that optimistic fool.

His body resisted her more than usual but it was simple enough to take control, like soothing a frightened animal. She brushed his temples and cooed at him, telling him that it would be alright, that she would take care of him.

And then he was hers.

She wheeled around, arms swinging slightly wider than she intended, and stared into the surprised and confused face of the other guard near her and her meat puppet.

“The hell is your problem Andy? You look drunk.”

“I need to be to work alongside you, ya giant ass.” Her voice was still slightly layered over the one of the body she inhabited, but after her first attempt with Midori she had figured out how to better align her own with the vocal chords.

“What the hell Andy? What’s that about?”

Blinking in confusion as she had expected that to cause anger in the man she answer, “I…uh, hate you?”

The man across from her suddenly erupted into tears and Sahaela was instantly overtaken with a storm of confusion.

“Oh damn, Andy are you bullying Terry again?” A rotund bald man said as he rounded the other side of the covered object. “You know he’s a sensitive lad.”

“You’re so mean Andy.”

Staring at the sobbing man and the other one comforting them Sahaela realized that no matter how long she lived she would never fully understand the human condition.

Rearing back the head of the one called Andy she thrust it forward and felt a momentary pain as his body collided with whatever was under the sheet with a loud clang.

The crying one named Terry let out a loud barking laugh of surprise while the bald man stared in confusion, which let her take him over quite easily. Wrapping a meaty arm around Terry’s neck she pulled hard turning a goofy laugh into a choking sound.

“It’s alright, it’ll be over quick. Sorry Terry.” She said while petting his head. And a few moments later he was unconscious.

“Okay, let’s see what you’ve got here.”

Pulling the large covering off Sahaela let out a gasp of shock as she stared at a large type of cannon. It had three barrels and appeared to be on some kind of rotational axis. It suddenly made sense how Luvall had overcome the strength difference

“Well…that’s definitely not good.”

Then the body she was controlling seized up and slowly began to float off the ground. It then felt as if her entire body were being ripped apart, like it were slowly being crushed and folded from within.

Releasing her hold on the man she went to float through the ceiling only to find herself rebuffed, a thin barrier of intense magick preventing her escape.

And standing in the doorway was a tall, middle-aged man with a long and visible scar on one cheek from his mouth to ear. It made the smile he wore even more unsettling as the body Sahaela had previously been in was crushed and pulled into a cube of meat that fell into his outstretched hand.

"And what have we here? A ghostly spy? My, my, my it has been some time since I devoured a specter."

-----

Phase two opened with them targeting the watchtower, and the gate.

Rune took out the tower with impressive speed, shattering the wooden beams in a single blow, while the two warriors they’d rescued—Oda and Toma—took great pleasure in smashing through the gate that had been created with the incredible clubs they had recovered from the weapon storage.

Midori found it interesting to learn that walls were anathema to the cultural ideals of Moana Mau’u which were meant to promote a more harmonious existence with the natural world.

She hoped that after this there would be time for her to learn more about this strange but beautiful place.

As predicted their strike had alerted nearby guards who came running, but they had already prepared for this.

With the gate destroyed it allowed for a certain furry companion to make flyby attacks, picking off the guards one by one with his paralytic bite. Popcorn was a blur of speed as he tore through over a dozen guards with ease. Though they would only be out for a few minutes, it would be more than enough.

Whatever had turned Popcorn from cuddly critter to monstrous menace had left a sliver of that power behind, which allowed him to assume the larger and deadlier form from their first encounter. Though at the moment it was for only a few minutes.

After the first guard went down Midori began a mental countdown.

Two minutes and then Popcorn would be practically unconscious. He took out the next pair, tossing them up into the air with ease before rearing up and kicking out with his hind legs like a horse.

The beast moved like lightning and so in less than a minute just over a dozen guards had been tossed aside like used chew toys.

As they had planned Rune and Midori raced toward the slate grey tent—which they had learned the previous evening was the medical tent—while Oda and Toma shepherded the remaining villagers to a much safer place.

Yet still the knot of anxiety in her stomach refused to untangle.

Pushing aside the flap of the tent a figure stepped out, hobbled out would be more appropriate to say. It was Beau, and as she saw him Midori could not help but feel slightly relieve.

But then she saw his face, or what was left of it.

The entire left side of his face had been utterly destroyed, but not beaten more like it had been crushed as if some kind in a vice. And it was then Midori realized why the strange walk looked familiar to her.

Before her grandparents passed away they’d had a farm, and as a child she had once witnessed the way a chicken would stumble around after it had it’s head cut off. It was hard not to picture Beau as that poor chicken.

Midori tried to run forward but Rune held her back, before pointing to the tent that now fluttered away in the breeze. Roy and Gray knelt in the ground brutalized, Roy held a bloodied hand to his face while Gray coughed up blood onto his chest.

But what truly chilled her to the core was not the gruesome sight of her companions beaten, not the guards beginning to swarm more effectively, nor was it the sight of the figure in dark slate armour whose hands were dripping with blood.

It was the voice of someone she had once considered a friend.

“There you are Midori, I’ve been looking for you.”