Grim Shift

"No, those are crocmaws!" I called out to my companions, watching as they backed closer to me, tightening our defensive triangle.

"I know what a frangulnoa looks like, Iz!" Rionriv snapped in reply. "So whatever you're calling it, you're wrong!"

“Iz?” Aesandoral’s quavering voice now spoke up. “What do we do?”

“I-I,” Stammering, I gripped my staff, unsure of what to do before turning to Rionriv. "Ri?"

“Why are you asking me, oracle?!”

We had planned to bypass the crocmaws entirely since I knew they'd be more trouble than they were worth. I had told everyone that we'd use the looted bandit explosives to collapse the tunnel to their nest, leaving the creatures' fates to whoever came after us. But now, trapped in the reservoir, we needed to face the entire bask of crocmaws, or frangulnoas, as my companions called them.

What a stupid fuggin' name for these monstrocities! I cursed internally as I allowed my anxious thoughts to overtake me. 

Okay, think. Think. Think. Think. The crocmaws are down here, in the subterranean caves, living off the runoff from the reservoir. They're carnivorous, highly territorial, and extremely dangerous. With scaled bodies and powerful bites containing a deadly saliva—the saliva, shit, how did I not put those together? 

I suddenly remembered the strange headspace I had been in when designing the creature. Having gone through a depression-induced science fiction bender, there was a late night when I stayed up crafting horrible, alien creatures to fill my world with. The scaly crocmaw was one of them, acting as a feverdream-fueled combination of a comodo dragon and one of those face-hugging aliens that Sigourney Threader would have fought in the Eighties.

Crocmaws infect bodies with their young! I realized in an instant. The victim is infected and driven mad. They attack other creatures in that state to distribute the toxin and spread more of the microscopic 'eggs.' Eventually, the infected host crawls into a dark hole to die, allowing the gestation to complete, and a crocmaw is born from the corpse. Man, what made me want to make such a fugged creature?

At the thought, I felt the mental dam within me want to burst forth. It flexed dangerously close to breaking, leaving me with enough mental capacity to push away from the thoughts and back to reality. Instead, I focused on something more important than past trauma. I watched as arrows and spells flew through the air, keeping the creatures away from the edge of the light, maintaining our safe distance for the time being.

I gave crocmaws a weakness. I had to have done that. Just what was it? I struggled to remember, noticing a pair of beasts hovering near Rionriv's corner. They’re. Here…because—? Wait, it wasn’t the arrow!

“HEE-YAH!” I yelled, pointing towards Rionriv and watching as the orb of light pushed fifty feet away from me in her direction.

Sunlight bathed the space beyond her, pushing the boundaries of our luminous bubble far enough to reveal the stalking crocmaws. Immediately captured in the glow, the beasts shrieked a horrible cry as the radiance sizzled their flesh, turning the scales brittle. A trio of arrows and a single beam of fire struck the monsters in an instant, cutting through the paper armour with ease.

I watched as they buckled, their flesh continuing to bubble and pop under the harsh light, confirming what I had recalled from that late-night foray into horror.

“They’re weaker in the sunlight!” I yelled out as I reached a hand into my bag in search of something I could bind my light spell to. "Tighten up and—"

"AHHH!" Sharzin suddenly cried out in agony. 

With a whip of my head, I turned around to see our rogue standing at the edge of our luminous bubble. The minute I had moved the orb to assist Rionriv, one of the creatures had taken the opportunity to strike. My heart raced, seeing the blood flowing from Sharzin's shoulder and down her leather armour. Firmly attached to her flesh, the grey-scaled snout of a crocmaw held the rogue in its razor-sharp teeth.

The creature and I locked eyes from across the glowing arena that we found ourselves in. I knew at a glance that if I moved towards them, it would retreat with my small companion in its jaws. So, frozen for what felt like an eternity, I stared at the creature's dead eyes, quietly wishing that I had something I could use to get me to the rogue's side faster.

That was when I felt it. From within the bag, a bottle was summoned to my grasp by my panicked thoughts. Withdrawing one of the potions that we had looted from the previous level, I examined it. The clear bottle held a deep blue liquid that resembled angrily swirling storm clouds. Within that, a single spark of electricity disappeared and reappeared, looking for an escape from its prison. A glance at the faded text revealed the words ‘Lightning Dash.’

I don’t know for sure what this does, but my anxiety summoned it. So, it should help!

With a satisfying squeak, I removed the cork and chugged the bottle. An electricity surged through my body, not too dissimilar to all the times Rionriv had electrocuted me, except this one didn't leave me feeling attacked. This time, it felt as though I was becoming the lightning. Electricity arced from my chest, down my legs and to my feet, where I felt a foreign magic building with explosive potential. Whatever it was going to do to me had taken effect.

Dropping the bottle, I stepped forward. With a clap of thunder, I appeared behind the crocmaw, my staff back and ready to strike. The glass shattered to the ground where I had stood only after I began to attack. Two devastating strikes to the beast's ribs landed before it could realize what had happened. But the electricity continued to surge through me, energizing my attack, and giving me the time necessary to sweep the creature's leg, sending it off-balance before delivering a powerful roundhouse kick to its neck.

The crocmaw fell limp, its body instantly broken in four separate locations. Releasing Sharzin from its mouth, I caught her in my arms and, with another clap of thunder, jumped back to the center of the light.

“Sharzin, are you okay?” I asked, placing a hand on her shoulder as I used my magic to detoxify the wound.

The injury glowed faintly as the putrid saliva of the crocmaw was pushed from the wounded flesh and dripped to the stone floor. I watched as the spreading lines of infection retreated from her body until all that was left was the wound itself.

“Y-yeah, thanks.” She said with a small nod. "Iz, that was—"

“Iz!” Rionriv called out as she reached a hand before her and began to draw a magical rune into the air. “Whatever you just did, can you do it again?”

"Yeah, I think?" I shouted back, glancing into Sharzin's attentive gaze as I set her down. "You good?"

"Yeah." She replied softly. "Go get 'em, Iz."

Turning, I glanced around the space, looking for a new target. In the opposite corner from where Sharzin had been, I watched as a crocmaw prepared to leap onto Aesandoral as she inadvertently wandered towards the edge of the light. Repeating my technique, I dropped in behind another one of the creatures, snapping its neck with a furious swing of my staff. 

I then did it twice more to another pair of monsters that had wandered close enough to the dimmest corner of our bubble. Appearing in their shadow, I used my staff to vault myself into the air, kicking one into the full light while bringing the weapon around fast enough to crack the skull of the second beast.

“Ri, is that enough?” I asked, jumping back to her with a thunderous clap and feeling the electric vigour drain from my body.

But the sorceress ignored me. She stood, with her hand outstretched, finishing the sigil of electricity that hung in the air. It crackled with energy as she smiled deviously at it. In an instant, I  understood why she had insisted I take the potion during the loot exchange. It was the same reason she wanted me to kill the crocmaws as she stood and observed.

She's learning...

“Did you just—" I whispered in disbelief. "Recreate the effects of an ancient potion into a spell? By sight?!”

“Yes,” She muttered, reaching both hands forward and touching a pair of glyphs within the design. “But mine is better.”

With a flash, the sigil erupted, sending out a cascade of neon blue sparks. In the next moment, Rionriv was gone, replaced by a living bolt of lightning that cut through the darkness, illuminating the world as it travelled. Using the crocmaws as her personal lightning rods, she connected quickly with each of the remaining beasts, igniting them with a blinding flash of light. Thirteen in total dropped to the ground as the crackle of electricity and booms of thunder echoed through the cavern like rapid artillery fire.

After the last beast fell and their shrieks quieted, Rionriv reappeared at my side. She smirked, looking behind her for a moment and then to me.

"Easy as—" She began, only to fall quiet as I watched her electric smile fade. 

With a trickle of blood flowing from her nose, Rionriv's piercing blue eyes rolled back into her head, as her body wobbled. Falling to my knees, I caught the sorceress before she collapsed. Cradling her head, I looked down at her unconscious body, eyeing the hundreds of scorch marks across her clothing and the electrical burns that singed her skin. With a brush of her hair to the side to get a better look at her face, I noticed something else new about her appearance. Twisting one of the locs in my fingers, it became apparent that the tips of her fiery red hair had become the same neon blue of her lightning strikes. And, even as the spell retreated from her body, the new look remained as a permanent feature.

“Ri,” I gasped, shaking her softly before gripping her harder. “Ri! Wake up. Aes, Zin, I need—”

“Iz!” Aesandoral cried, drawing my attention towards her kneeling body.

My heart stopped as I looked back at the archer crouching over an unconscious Sharzin. Even from my distance, I could see the black veins reaching up the rogue's bloodied neck towards her face. Panic consumed my thoughts as a horrible realization dawned on me.