Unconventional magic

Adventurers rushed forth. The mille-pattes head moved its lateral legs, directing the smaller monsters. Up until now, there hadn’t been any rhyme or reason to the monster’s attacks, but they started moving into semi-organised columns once the giant creature - their alpha - appeared.

Blighted trees and desert hounds formed the frontlines, blocking off a good portion of the adventurers. Those who managed to slash or burn their way through were greeted with squads of frogs and wolves, or undefinable insect amalgamations.

What do I do?

The three of us exchanged a weary look. What could we do? From this rooftop, we could do nothing but observe.

Three adventurers managed to break through the monster formation. One threw daggers into the alpha’s carapace, creatine stepping platforms for the other two. They jumped up, all the way to the top of its head. One of them slipped and hit one of the lighter slots on the carapace. They started sinking in, and their companion pulled them out and threw them over her shoulder. Purple liquid trailed behind them as they finally reached the creature’s mouth.

The unwounded one unsheathed a sword. She leapt up, just as the millie-pattes registered the intruders and started dropping down. Her sword grew, doubling in size, then quadrupling. Red and yellow energy appeared around the other adventurer and swirled up to the swordswoman, engulfing her weapon.

She let herself fall down, striking true.

The alpha’s flesh exploded away, scattering purple ooze all around it. The top half of its face was gone, but it continued its descent. The first adventurer caught the mage as they fell, and the swordwoman landed by their side.

The smaller monsters froze; some started running around erratically. I held my breath, wanting but unable to believe that the alpha was dead.

It landed in the sand, and a clicking noise came from within what remained of its mouth.

Giselle quickly got behind me, and we all watched another flame sweep through the battlefield. At that exact moment, the small monsters regained consciousness. They dodged the flame and indiscriminately ran towards the alpha, jumping into its mouth.

They froze in place when they reached designated positions, and soon the top half of its face was there again. It was a horrendous mixture of wood, fur, and leather that quickly got covered by purple goo emanating from within the creature.

The alpha slowly rose up and continued its march.

“Train,” I said, eyes still glued to the scene in horror. I knew this would give me nightmares for months, but I couldn’t look away, and seemingly neither could my companions.

“Are you suggesting retreat?”

“No, Danayr, I’m suggesting that thing you keep doing where you go for the mouth.” I stared at the battle that’d resumed for a while longer before turning around. “In those few seconds, it primes the fire sweep, I can drive into its mouth.”

“Primes?”

“And then what?”

“Yes, prepares,” I explained to Giselle. “And then… Well, I’ll be going fast, right?”

I put a hand over my hip and forced myself to grin. I didn’t have much confidence in this; about not getting set on fire, or simply getting stuck in there, but the train would have a better chance of going in deeper and ...

“It will die if I destroy its core, right?” I asked Danyar.

“By the stars, you don’t know?” He exclaimed, rubbing the bridge of his nose and looking away. “No, Chiyo, it won’t.” He said, still looking away.

“It will,” Giselle interjected. “It definitely will. My brother wrote about it in his letters. The blight doesn’t change a monster’s physiology, just removes its notion of pain and its reason.”

Danyar grumbled and nodded.

“Alright, yeah,” I clapped my hands over my legs, prepping myself for this. “The only thing we need now is to clear a path. We need to find someone with a loudspeaker and -”

Branches grew along the building facade, before snapping up and creating a bridge between our roof and the neighbouring one.

I stomped my foot through the wooden bridge before the blighted hounds on the other side could make their way over. One of them leapt at the last moment and landed right in front of Giselle.

Danyar impaled it through its side. He pulled out his spear and hit it twice more, in the same area. I heard a faint crack before the monster collapsed.

Danayr clicked his tongue.

“I’m right!” Giselle exclaimed. “The core is the only thing we need to destroy. Come on,” She gestured for us to follow as she leapt off the roof.

Danayr joined me on the roof’s edge, and we both hesitantly looked down.

“Come on!” She repeated.

Her wind caught us, and we ran through the streets, towards the frontlines.

The footprints we left in the sparse sand behind us were fast erased by hot gusts of wind. We helped a man dig himself out from under a pile of rubble, and defended two teenagers against another wolf, but overall, the streets were calmer now. The fight had migrated elsewhere.

Only a few streets ahead, people yelled, taking shelter from another fire attack. The alpha was closing in. If there were still regular people here, we needed to get them out -

“You can’t keep me here! I can stop that thing!” A desperate voice came from a street up ahead.

After a quick exchange of nods, we ran up to the source of the noise.

Seven pairs of eyes snapped towards us as we burst around the corner. Three of those belonged to the same person.

“You again!” The winged knight woman from earlier raised her sword towards us.

Giselle took a step back.

The scene was truly strange.

The man with the black horns and the over-the-top red suit I’d spotted earlier was standing inside a semi-translucent box. Next to him stood the one likely responsible for casting the box prison. A replica of it floated between his hands. The lower part of his body was that of a snake, and it extended far backwards. Two of his eyes were fixed on us, while another pair kept watch of the horned man, and the third pair methodically scanned the street.

The fourth person was taller than Danayr and almost two meters wide. Her skin was a deep blue, and her flail - almost as big as me - dragged on the ground. She had a similar tattoo to Danayr under her left iris-less eye.

“Don’t you dare attack first,” The man in the box raised a finger in the direction of the winged woman.

“We’re not wanting to fight. We thought someone was in danger,” I spoke, raising my hands up.

This caused both women to ready their weapons further. It seemed my gesture was not a universal one for surrender.

“The whole town is in dander,” The man with the black horns put a hand against the wall of the box holding him prisoner. “I can stop it, but these stubborn idiots refuse to let me do it.”

“You’re too important, prick.” The snake man rolled three of his eyes. “Why are you telling these strangers your plan anyway, huh?”

He must be very powerful, probably close to the demon king. I’ll need to make sure to find him after the battle.

“We can help!” I intervened. “I think I can land a direct hit on that giant’s core.”

“You think?” The winged woman scoffed.

“How?” The one with the flail swung her weapon over her shoulder.

“With magic,” Giselle replied. She wrapped a hand over my shoulder and peeked from behind me. “She can summon this big spear-like thing that will go straight through it.”

“A train -”

“But it needs to gain momentum on straight ground. Do you think that perhaps you could clear out some of the demon troupes? Maybe just hose right in the way. I’m not sure how -”

“That can be arranged," The snake man flicked his hand, and a losange crustal appeared in front of him.

“You’re not serious, Bakhyt, stop this! I’m not letting some children rush into this fight,” The man in the box hit on its walls. Ripples spread through the translucent energy, but nothing else gave in. “Stand down!” He yelled.

He sounded strangely desperate.

“I call forth on Yiir’s one blessing,” Danayr suddenly stepped forth. “On my true name, I swear that this plan aligns with Yiir’s will.”

The winged woman scoffed, and the other woman nodded, a newfound respect for Danayr glimmering in her eyes.

“See, the gods want this,” The snake man gestured towards us, and three more floating gems appeared, one before each of us. “Give us the signal and I’ll move the troops."

“Thanks!” Giselle exclaimed.

I bowed and rushed out.

“That was lucky,” Giselle spoke as we turned a corner.

“What’s with this Yiir business?” I asked Danayr. The time for executing my plan was approaching, and I needed something less stressful to focus on for a moment.

“What’s with the fire punches?” Danyar replied.

When we reached the frontlines, we realised we’d wasted too much time. Those defending the city were retreating behind what remained of the wall, and the giant alpha monster was minutes away from simply crushing everything.

Giselle ran off, asking the groups she could see to clear a path, and using whatever power her pin gave her to help convince them.

“We won’t make it,” Danayr spoke, gesturing at the advancing wave of monsters. They were too densely packed to safely drive through them. And even then, I would still need someone to bring the alpha down.

He broke off to the side, knocking over a tree that had approached us.

Don’t panic. Think. Just think. There is always a solution.

“Giselle!” I yelled. Then, I brought the floating gem up to my mouth and called her again.

“What is it, Chiyo?” Her voice came through clearly. She waved at us from three hundred meters away. Then, she dodged to the side as a blighted frog leapt at her.

“How solid is your wind?”

“What?” She yelled back.

“How solid is your wind?” I repeated. Determination filled my tone. “It was pretty strong when it hit my train yesterday. Can you make a ramp out of it?”

“What? I don’t think that’s possible! I mean, I can try. But what happened to the plan -”

She got shoved to the ground by a desert hound. She blasted at it, sending it several dozen meters away.

“There’s too many monsters, we can’t get through.”

“I can help,” an unfamiliar voice came through the crystal.

“Bakhyt, no! You’ve done enough! Release me, stars be damned!” A faint voice came through the crystal. It was barely audible over the sounds of the fight.

I see what’s happening.

“Aller girl, make the path. Make it as flat and wide as you can, don’t use spheres, you hear me?” Bakhyt spoke again.

“Yes? How do you know my name? Have you seen a man with short red hair and -”

“Giselle!” I barked into the crystal. “Sir, promise me you’ll meet us after this is over.”

There was a brief pause.

“Yes. Now get moving. Chinara, get me to a vantage point. Armour girl, start moving. Make your big spear.”

I nodded.

My train dropped right beside me, and Danayr was already climbing into it.

I tugged on his jacket, forcing him to get down. We exchanged a long look, not needing to discuss the absurdity of what I was about to do. I extended a hand, and he tentatively shook it. Then, we simultaneously pulled each other into a tight hug.

I reached the cab and put my hand over the throttle.

“That’s not a spear,” A distant woman’s voice came through the crystal.

“It’s what we have. Armour girl, Aller, I’m going to illuminate the path.”

I took a deep breath and pushed the red throttle lever. The train lurched forward, its rails spawning within a thin section of equidistant lights. They blinked past like lights in a tunnel, as I focused all my attention on this path. It lifted off the ground and started spiralling around the giant creature.

One spin.

Then another.

I am so glad this is working.

I tried not to look at the arrows and weapons planted in the dented carapace of the alpha, or the waves of monsters that were still coming from behind it. The air grew colder as I ascended, and the wind picked up.

“I can’t hold this forever; you need to go faster.” That man ordered me.

“I still have some mana,” Giselle added.

“Okay.”

<MP: 13 598/20 000>

I nodded decisively to myself and flicked that red switch above my head. Knowing what to do, it took me less than a second to put the locomotive in overdrive.

I did one more spin before the white lights started fading around me.

“Up. We need to go higher!” I yelled into the gem. The wind drowned out my words, but I hoped those two still heard me.

I didn’t hear their reply, but the ramp got steeper. For a second, I worried that the train would overturn, but none of the dials went into the red. Instead, my vision started going blurry.

The ground suddenly filled my view.

I had one hand on the throttle, and the other on the arming key, and all I could see around me was the yellow sands being swallowed by an imminently fast approaching multi-textured purple head. It felt surreal, and I felt sick. Nothing was meant to be seen from this angle.

The spotted purple carapace fully filled the front windshield, and suddenly I was projected back. I felt a sharp jolt of pain in my shoulder, and the fingers holding down the arming key burned.

Nothing a healing potion won’t -

Purple fluid flooded the cab. On reflex, I took a big gulp of air and shut my eyes, letting tears of pain and fear run down my cheeks. I was frozen in place by the blighted blood flowing into the cabin from both behind and the lateral doors. I couldn’t move my hands from the console even if I wanted to -

< Faulty equipment detected. >