The Fallen Outskirts

The remainder of our trip east towards Talir’sahn was uneventful. Slowly but surely, the plains turned to foothills and, eventually, we were snaking along cliffside paths, making our way ever higher up the mountainous rim. Finding the hidden route, we made our way off the main road and up an overgrown trail that had become forgotten over many years of neglect.

This was definitely a shorter path than others to our checkpoint, though the problematic terrain slowed us.

We eventually reached the summit as the setting sun shed its last light, casting just enough glow to allow our eyes to spot a lone, crumbling tower. Vines covered its base, and trampled vegetation lay around a large, dark hole carved from the structure.

“Movement,” Aesandoral whispered. “There’s something big inside the tower.”

“Alright,” I replied. “Let me see.”

Crouching down for cover before moving towards the front of the group, I positioned myself beside Aesandoral for a better look. Straining my eyes, I peered through the dim light to see what looked to be a gigantic snake for a moment, then in the next, a lion's mane poked from the hole as the beast shifted.

With this, I had seen enough. I knew of a few creatures that stalked the outskirts of the Talir’sahn, and this one was a chimera, a monstrosity created from the corrupted magic of the region.

Turning to the group, I detailed what we were going up against. I warned them about the poison of the snakehead tail and explained that the wyvern head’s bite was nearly as bad as its fiery breath attack.

After a few minutes, we hid ourselves away and put our heads together to scribble a quick plan of action.

I would be upfront, per usual, trying my best not to die while Aesandoral and Sharzin launched sneak attacks from the treeline. Rionriv would also be with them to cast anything but fire magic and, if something went wrong, the sorceress would break formation to assist.

The strategy wasn’t overcomplicated. In fact, it was our typical arrangement, but being on the same page was always preferred to winging it.

Teamwork was dreamwork, after all. And as I charged in, everything went according to plan—

Until it didn’t.

The first round of blows went as expected. Throwing a Phyllis Brand Daylight Orb into the tower, bright light filled the space and revealed the previously sleeping beast. My assumption had been correct, and we were dealing with a mutated chimera. Score one for me.

I lunged forward with my staff, giving the lion's head a heavy crack before following up with two blows to the adjacent goat's eyes. In a well-coordinated strike, a pair of arrows from Aesandoral sank into the snake’s head, while a single arrow from Sharzin pierced to the fletching through the wyvern's eye.

It was at this point that the grievously wounded beast lunged to its feet, flailing its body side to side as it released a ferocious roar. The tower shook as massive stones tumbled from the rapidly deteriorating building, threatening to come down.

I looked up, worried about being caught in a collapse, and in that moment where my attention had become split, the head of the snake bit down onto my torso. Poison surged through my body in a burning pulse that ached with each beat of my heart.

The monster then flung me into the air, where its ibex-like head struck my body hard enough to send me flying back into the clearing.

Unfortunately, at that moment, my main concern had become focused on my fragile ego. I was more worried about how idiotic I looked to my triop as I flipped through the air like a rag doll. In actuality, the poison coursing through my veins should have taken precedence or even the blunt force trauma I had just endured.

But I was more worried about saving face, since this was the third time in two days that the actual world had handed my ass to me on a platter.

Hitting the ground, I eventually rolled to a stop. I struggled to push myself up; the muscles in my arms and legs burned as the venom surged through me. Looking down at the black and purple veins that quickly traversed my torso, it was clear that my body was beginning to shut down.

This is not good. I thought before seeing the glowing red embers of the wyvern preparing its breath weapon.

And that’s worse! Must move.

I struggled to stand on my pained, burning legs, but they gave out the instant I applied weight to them. Now, locked in place, I was about to become Esserian Fried Ishara for this chimera.

That was when Rionriv appeared. Having rushed in, she placed herself face-to-face with me. I could see the flames erupting behind her as they rushed towards us. And as they hit her, she cradled a hand to my cheek and smiled.

Arcane energy flickered around her body, expanding and contracting as the flames from the attack split before us like turbulent rapids around a boulder. I watched as the worst of the attack missed us, though I could tell Rionriv still took some of the hit.

“That’s how you save someone before they’re on death's door.” She said, wincing as her hand continued to caress my cheek for a moment before reaching over.

Rubbing a finger along my bottom lip, she gently tugged it down, opening my mouth. My heart began to race.

Thuh-thump! Thuh-thump! Thuh-thump!

“Now,” She whispered before playfully biting at her bottom lip. Rionriv’s other hand appeared, shoving a healing potion into my mouth. “Fuggin’ drink the potion. I’ll finish this.”

“GYAH! ACK!”

As I hacked up the elixir that had weaselled its way down my windpipe, I caught what happened next from the corner of my eye.

Rionriv stood, turning away from me as she raised her hands to the quickly darkening sky. Lowering them towards the Chimera, she instantly jumped ten feet forward, creating a visible wave of concussive energy.

Explosive thunder echoed as the sonic tsunami launched the chimera into the back of the tower, dealing the fatal blow to the building. The ancient guard post, finally losing its battle with time and elements, crumbled under its own weight and collapsed atop the monstrosity.

The battle was over, and as I cast a detoxifying spell into my body, listening to the thunder echo into the distance, I watched the stone settle into place. The chimera couldn’t have survived the nine-story tower falling on it, but we waited with bated breaths anyway. And as the dust finally settled enough to see the huge paw resting limply beyond the rubble, we regrouped to inspect each other.

“Thanks, Ri,” I said as I approached her, my body feeling better after the potion and detoxifier. “I appreciate you saving my butt back there.”

“Yeah, no problem.” She replied dully before snapping out of a trance and turning towards me with her usual zeal, “I just wanted to show you how it's done on the road. Smarten up. We’re going up against a dragon soon, remember? I’ll see if I can find some forage before we’re in complete darkness. Set up camp, ‘kay?”

“Y-yeah, sure,” I replied, trying to gather any insight into what she may have been feeling, but she turned away quickly and disappeared into the brush.

Watching her for a moment, I eventually called Aesandoral over, and the two of us began to set up everyone’s tents. We chose a location in the nearby woods, a little way from the collapsed tower in the event that any bandits had heard the thunder or seen the dust in the dim light. Camouflaging each well enough that, from a distance, it was hard to tell if they were bushes or tents, we felt content with our work.

As we were doing this, Rionriv returned with various mushrooms and edible greens that she and Sharzin cooked up alongside some hippogriff meat. Seasoning the meal with the twelve herbs and spices that she had purchased, Sharzin created a comparable knock-off to Phyllis’ World Eighty-Two food. And, while it wasn’t Tennessee Fried Chicken, it wasn’t bad either.

The conversation of choice around the campfire as we ate was strategy. We were beginning the dungeon dive in the morning, and it started with twenty-two ‘easy’ bandits and then four ‘difficult’ lieutenants. I withdrew the small blueprints I had scribbled up for the group, and we ran over the first-floor rooms and the total number of enemies once more.

As we worked, I glanced at everyone’s concentrating faces as they were illuminated by the campfire. They all appeared so serious, which was fair as I should have been too. But I was distracted.

Thuh-thump! Thuh-thump!

I couldn’t help but think of them all as exceptionally beautiful in the flickering light. The way they focused in this moment and their determined looks in combat—it wasn’t like anything I saw from them on campus. They were strong and capable. They didn’t need me or anyone else, for that matter.

Unfortunately, I was a sucker for tough, independent women, and all three of them were that, if not more. And after these last few days, there was no doubt in my mind that even if I had never met them, they would have definitely found a way to solve their Al’Magi issue. Together, the three of them could solve any problem.

But then there was the whole Rionriv teasing me thing—

Thuh-thump! Thuh-thump! Thuh-thump! Thuh-thump! Thuh-thump!

My face grew warm as I looked down at my lap.

No, stop—contractual obligations. Don’t give Phyllis the satisfaction of a breach of contract.

“Why don’t you all get some rest? It’s a busy day tomorrow,” I announced, looking back up, “I’ll take the first watch.”

And that’ll give me some time to think about things.