Found You

      I was trying to end things too quickly, fighting too recklessly and hastily. Amidst the pain of the stabbing spikes, the oncoming swords, and the pressure of pile of demons, I took a deep breath. Patience.

     Full power into Durus, I coated my body in metal, leaving not a single gap. My shield sprouted thin branches of tungsten that pierced through the pile of demons, curving and branching to stab through them. When the mass ceased to move, I pushed the mass off and rose to my feet, ready to face the next onslaught of attacks.

     Acid and adhesive again, this time I paid attention to which Lords were using such attacks. The goddess had already marked them. With my arms outstretched, two geysers of mercury washed over their attacks, then concentrated inward, turning into solid spikes, and impaling the two Lords. It wouldn’t be lethal ordinarily, but with the goddess’s mark, they were purged by punishing white light.

     As more lesser demons gathered and swarmed recklessly while the Lords cautiously prowled around, I remembered how Siti fought and wondered why I’d never tried imitating her.

     Copper spikes shot up from the net below. I wasn’t as precise or capable of aiming as many as Siti could, but it was enough to halt the oncoming demons in their tracks, as well as kill two more unsuspecting Lords who hadn’t been marked yet.

     Ballistae were also used by Siti, but the mechanism wasn’t needed for me, as I could make the bolts and launch them by my control alone. Dozens of metal arrows were thrown at the surrounding lords, but even with their attempts to evade, I could change the trajectory to strike them from behind or the sides.

     No matter how many I kill, their numbers hardly seemed to dwindle. I needed to be patient, still. Even as all the Lords who’d been standing back and observing out of caution decided to attack at once, I need to stay calm and patient.

     As I raised a dome of thick tungsten over me to protect from the oncoming assault, more and more Lords were marked with the Goddess’s light. That dome turned into a shell of crescent-shaped blades that I’d fire off one by one at the surrounding foes, cutting through their attacks, their protections, and cleaving through them.

     But as my shell crumbled, I wasn’t prepared for an attack at my feet, as the solid ground turned to a sticky mud that swallowed me up to my knees within seconds. I couldn’t move, couldn’t pull myself free, and that brief distraction lead to a combined assault slamming into my armor. Swords, acid, pests, lashes, heated brands, all sorts of attacks in different shapes and forms. I could even feel something in my mind and body, causing me pain, nausea, disorientation from inside. I could feel the goddess attempting to push them out, but there was only so much she could do against so many attacks.

     But there was one attack I didn’t understand. I opened my helmet to see properly, to smell properly. Flowers. A familiar scent filled the air and it seemed to stop the surrounding demons just as it did me. All the demons in the skies above seemed to stop as well. Little puffs like those of a dandelion filled the air and slowly descended around us.

    I pulled back the metal around my hand and reached out, allowing a single puff to land upon my finger. Yet, as I brought it closer to my eyes to inspect it, it disappeared.

     A cough. Hacking, wheezing. The Lords around me began to wretch in pain and collapse one by one. The lesser demons fell out of the way in droves, forming a hail from their corpses. Among the sound of bodies hitting the ground, I could faintly hear a voice, someone calling my name.

“James!”

   I looked around and spread my senses. It wasn’t within the city.

“Jaaaames!!”

     From above! I looked up and focused. Joy filled my heart so much that I thought it would burst and I held out my arms.

“JAAAAAAAMES!!!”

     Down came Siti, landing in my arms as I knelt to soften the fall, even though she felt like she weighed nothing. Without a second thought, I curled my arms and hugged her against me while she awkwardly hugged my head.

“See! I told you I’d find you!”

“This isn’t an illusion, is it? This isn’t a mental attack? Goddess, is this real?”

“No, champion. She is real.”

“No, I’m Siti!” The plant woman chimed with a grin.

“How did you find me?! And what did you do to the other demons?”

     Looking at the Lords and lessers, they hadn’t just collapse, but their bodies seemed to break down turning into some kind of sludge.

     To answer both questions, Siti held up her hand, full of those dandelion puffs I’d seen before.

“These little babies! I spread them all over. If they made contact with you, they’d alert me! And if they made contact with anyone else, well, there’s a reason I’m called the ‘Green Plague!’ Well, multiple reasons, actually, but you get the idea!”

“Anyone else? Ah! Andre!!”

     Just as I spoke his name, the ant creator landed several paces away from us, staring with a fixed gaze upon Siti. Though his body was still, his antennae swayed and wiggled all over excitedly.

“Ah, him? He’ll be fine! There are lots like him where I come from, but I wasn’t expecting to find one down here!”

    She climbed out of my arms and patted her skirt straight before putting her hands on her hips and facing Andre.

“Hello! I’m Sitiens Meretrix, but please call me Siti! If you’re a friend of James, then you’re a friend of mine!”

    Andre took a hesitant step forward, then another, his hands raising, aside unsure of what to do. I’d never seen him act in such a way, but I stayed close to Siti just in case.

“M-M-My my my MY my…!”

“Hmmm~? Yeeees? Your naaaaame~?”

    Andre dropped to his knees, raised all four arms straight up and slammed his upper body into the ground in a deep bow.

“MY! QUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!”