Chapter 57: Spike & Sio

I look down from above the mountains and watch Jack get pulled into the giant frog's mouth. The whole scene was brutal, but Norman really stole the show. Tying his limp arm like a rope around his shield handle must've been excruciating, but he pushed through for his friends. It's a shame he was a danger to mine.

I descend from the sky and move towards a patch of trees where I stashed Spike. I let both of us roll down the mountain a ways, then used healing magic to put him to sleep. He's hanging over a low tree branch with light cuts to his face and some sticks poking out of his armor. Blood is similarly dripping down the side of my head, but it's time for a performance.

"Spike, Spike, wake up!" I yell and push on his shoulder. I rock him back and forth on the branch until he jerks.

"LIZARDS!" He shouts and tumbles down to the ground. His head whips from side to side before his vision settles on me. "Newbie- you're bleeding," he says, then lifts a hand to his own head and feels blood there as well.

"So are you, Spike. Let me heal you," I say, and crouch next to him.

"The others, have you seen them?" He asks, but I shake my head as I work my healing magic.

"I haven't, and look at the sun," I say, then point up to the sky, "it's up over the mountain, we must've been knocked out for a little while.. I'm surprised nothing came to eat us."

"Aha," Spike chuckles, "that must be because our crew took care of all the lizards. Patch me up quick so we can go check on everyone," he says with a smile.

I finish healing Spike, then heal the superficial wounds on myself as well. We hike up the western face of the mountain for half an hour before we find signs of the orphan crew.

"Newbie, look! It's Seira's cloak!" Spike shouts and points up the mountain ahead of us. He sprints up the rocks towards the cloak, but stops dead still over it. I catch up to him and look at the ground. Seira's purple cloak is stained red and covered in bits of her hair. Next to it are half-melted pieces of armor that Jack was wearing.

"No," Spike whispers as he crouches down. He runs his hand over the cloak and armor gently before standing up and continuing further up the mountain. I follow, and we quickly reach the summit where we camped last night. More remnants of the orphan crew lie just in front of us.

Celeste's cloak and hat are burned down to a quarter of their original size. Norman's shield is battered, and the inside is covered in blood. Spike walks to each and touches them gingerly before sitting down next to Norman's shield. He picks it up and places it in his lap.

"We did everything together, because no one else wanted us.. we were supposed to die together, too," he says and hangs his head, "but there's still something left I have to do, so just wait a little bit for me to join you."

Spike slides the shield from his lap and stands. He turns back to face me with red, puffy eyes.

"Change of plans, newbie, we're going through the flatlands," Spike says.

"You want to keep going?" I ask, and Spike flashes a pained smile.

"If we head southwest, we'll run into the monster I need to bring back to the church. It's a dragon," he says calmly.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. I get to fight a dragon? This place has dragons??

"I'll follow you, Spike, just lead the way," I respond while stifling my excitement. Spike nods, then looks around and back to me.

"Take anything extra out of the pack, the trip would've been three days with everyone, but I think we can do it in two with just us," he says.

"Right," I reply and pull the pack down from my shoulders. I toss out the extra tent materials and anything that was used exclusively by the dead party members. It won't speed us up any, but if Spike is taking me to a dragon, then I'll do what he says.

We descend back down the western side of the mountain and walk through a small patch of forest. We reach the edge with the sun directly overhead when Spike stops and turns to me.

"Sio," Spike says somewhat unnaturally, "the rest of the way will be salt flats. We should gather any wood we need for fire before we go," he adds.

We split up and collect a bushel of wood each. I snag a few rabbits while I'm collecting the wood and return to the edge of the wooded area where Spike is waiting. 

"All set," I say, then hold up the rabbits, "and I grabbed some food for tonight."

Spike nods and waves for me to follow him. The scenery changes abruptly when we step out of the wooded area. Dirt turns to loose sand, which turns into cracked tan and white desert. It really is a salt flat.

"Spike, any idea why this land is so dry when just behind us is a lush forest?" I ask, and Spike turns to look at me.

"This continent changed a lot during the holy war. It could've been from the continent moving across the ocean, or it could've been the breath of a massive fire dragon - there aren't perfect records of what happened back then," he explains.

"Fire dragon.. is the dragon we're looking for a fire dragon?" I ask.

"Ha, I hope not, we'd be burned to a crisp in seconds," he replies, "the church isn't sure what type of dragon this one is. All they know is that it stops anything from moving past its territory, and there's no way to go south without running into it."

"So they're territorial beasts.." I mumble and imagine what a fight with a dragon will entail. I really hope it breathes fire and has huge claws. OH, and scaly armor that can't be cut with normal swords.

"I hope you remember everyone fondly, Sio, even after the horrible things they said last night.." Spike says and breaks up my daydreaming. 

"Right.. last night's conversation was a bit heavy for me," I answer honestly, and Spike exhales hard.

"The church won't stay the way it is. I promise you that," Spike says adamantly. 

"That'd be nice," I reply quietly, and think about some of the people I've met over the last few months. Selena's a sweet girl, albeit rough around the edges. Kara is like her doting aunt, and she's managed to grow on me since she let her walls drop a bit. Victoria's been through a hell I can't even imagine. She'll probably tell me someday, and I'll want to drop a nuke on the church and Alaria. Then there's Lucy. I only met her the one time, but she reminds me of a little cousin I had in my last life. I really want her to grow up without the stress and pain her ancestry could cause her.

We continue walking until the sun is barely visible on the horizon. Spike puts our tents up while I build a small fire and start cooking. I managed to get two rabbits when we collected wood, so I butcher them and prepare a rabbit stew. I sit and watch the low flame heat the stew in silence. Spike seems upset about losing his friends, but based on our conversation earlier, I think he also understands the problems they had.

Spike and I eat, but barely exchange words before it's time to sleep. I crawl into my tent and wrap myself in an animal hide blanket. It's somehow colder on the salt flat than it was at the top of the mountain we slept on last night. Maybe the barrier blocked the wind from blowing over us.

I make a little fire in my hand to warm under the blankets and fall asleep.

***

A few hours before sunrise, my eyes snap open. I sit up and let magic roll off of me, but there's nothing close to the campsite. Still, something feels off.

I pull my blankets off and step out of my tent. The moon is bright, even without my magic-enhanced vision, it's easy enough to see. But there's nothing. Just salt flat all around us. 

"Sio?" Spike's head pops out from his tent, "You can't sleep either?" he asks, but I shake my head.

"I was fast asleep, but something startled me awake.. though I don't know what," I reply and continue looking around us. 

Spike leaves his tent and draws his sword when the ground shifts slightly beneath us. If we were walking, we probably wouldn't have noticed it, but something is under us. Spike puts a finger to his lips and gives me an intense look, while I direct some of my magic into the ground. There are worm-like tendrils the size of tree trunks sifting through the sand below. They stem from a large, loose sac of flesh 50 meters down.

As soon as my magic reaches their origin, the tendrils charge towards me, and the ground shakes.

"Spike, stay there!" I yell and jump backwards as three tendrils burst through the sand where I was just standing. They push several meters out of the ground until they tower overhead. They look like overgrown earthworms, but the end of each tendril has a sort of mouth with sharp fangs. 

I let out a blast of magic to draw them towards me and away from Spike. But they don't react instantly. I redirect some of my magic towards the main body underground, and the assault starts. The three tendrils shoot and twist towards me while bearing their fangs, but I cut off my flow of magic and step to the side. Their attack doesn't follow me, instead it aims again at where I was. I swing my sword down from overhead and slice the fang-bearing heads off. The creature's blood atomizes as it meets the air, and the tendrils start swinging around wildly. 

A purple and red haze fills the air around me. Half a breath in tells me all I need to know - it's toxic.

"Spike run!" I stifle a cough and shout, then use wind magic to push the toxic cloud away. Spike gives me a pained expression, but listens and backs off to a safe distance. My mouth and throat burn from the toxin. I start to weave healing magic when five more tendrils shoot towards the surface. There's only one way to do this without Spike realizing I've been holding out on him, and it's a bit risky. 

I take my sword in my right hand and ready a large ball of water in my left. The five tendrils shoot out of the ground and race towards me. 

What? I didn't direct any magic into the ground. Did it react to my water magic?

Four are the same size and shape as the others, but one of the tendrils is thicker, and its head is nastier. It has a circle of sharp teeth instead of fangs, and it's hanging back behind the rest. Can this one sense magic?

The four typical tendrils are spread out slightly and approach in a semicircle formation in front of me. I dash for the furthest left one and swing my right arm across my body, taking off its head. Before the head can fly off or the body can flail and spread its toxin, I cover the head and severed neck with my ball of water and compact it as much as I can. The head crushes down to a third of its original size, and the neck crimps shut. The other tendrils aim for my body, and I'm forced to redirect myself with condensed magic.

The tendril with its neck crimped flails around wildly, crashing into the others that tried to attack me. But it hardly spews any toxin. That is, until the remaining tendrils start ripping it apart. The three that lunged for me dig their fangs into the headless tendril and death roll, causing blood to spew and creating another purple and red haze. 

The creature below is intelligent. It knows what its win condition is in a fight and will make sacrifices to make that condition a reality. How the hell do I beat this thing without outing myself? Would it be better just to run? I might have an idea..

If I shoot enough water into the sky and make it rain, that could pound the toxin into the ground and give me the chance to slice through the tendrils without inhaling too much toxin. It'd be quite the water magic feat, but it's the best option I can think o-

"RAHHHHHHH!" Spike screams and charges for the large tendril in the rear with his sword held high overhead. 

Fuck man, he must have an attention disorder.

I let off a surge of magic and blow a firehose-like stream of magic into the sky above us. Three tendrils rush at me as it starts to rain over our battle, but the largest tendril doesn't even notice Spike. He buries his sword halfway up its body as I start collecting fanged heads from the vestiges attacking me. 

I take the first and second in one stroke, then kick off condensed magic to dodge the fangs of the third. It passes by centimeters from my face in what feels like slow motion. Its skin is wet, and saliva hangs from its fangs that are longer than my fingers. Maybe this fucker absorbed all the water and made this place into a desert.

I spin my body and blade to take the last head off. It flies and spews toxins that are absorbed by the falling droplets of water and pushed into the sand below. I land on my feet and look at the fight between the final tendril and Spike. His sword is lodged in its body as it flails wildly. Spike is flailing around with it; he must have a death drip on that sword. 

Spike being occupied gives me an opportunity. I push my magic into the sand around the sac below and activate earth magic. I manipulate the sand all around it into dense spikes and slam them into the main body like a medieval torture device. The ground shakes violently for a moment, and the tendril that's swinging Spike around starts its death throes.

"WAHHHHHHHH!" he screams as his sword dislodges and he flies through the air. The large tendril whips around violently and smashes the ground all over, leaving craters as if redwood trees are falling from the sky. It falls limp in one such crater and vibrates for a moment, then lies still. 

I run across the toxin-covered sand to reach Spike. He's breathing hard and holding his chest. I kneel next to him and push healing magic into his body.

"Hold on, Spike," I say firmly as my magic fills his body. He coughs and rocks forward, then lies back down. I check his mouth, throat, and lungs - but there's no damage. 

"Wingahh.. out.." he groans.

I check his ribs, heart, liver, spleen, and kidneys - but they're fine. It must be his brain.

"Knockgah.. fine..." he groans again. Definitely brain damage. I reposition from his side and put his head in my lap. I hold either side of his head and pour in healing magic to look for bleeding or other damage in his brain. But Spike's hand flies up and grabs my wrist.

"Kuh.. I'm fine.. just had.. wind knocked out of me," he says.

Oh. So this is a dude on dude lap pillow for no good reason.

I pick his head up off my lap and drop it back onto the sand with a thud.

"Puh-Prick.." Spike groans and rolls to his side.

"Yea you'll be fine," I reply and sit next to him.

"That.. sucked.." Spike groans again.

"It did, it really did," I reply with a smile he can't see. 

I actually had a bit of fun.