Chapter 6: Dog Fight

“Why… Why do you keep doing that?!” Wyn shouted.

Giant fangs shear through the barrier of stone, missing her leg underneath by a hair. The creature snapped, chewing and spitting out the rock in disgust. Magus collapsed to the ground, his arm sheared clean off.

“What just—!”

Finn rushed over to his fallen comrade, only to find that the black cloth had already wrapped itself around the nub that was once his arm. Shion, on the other hand, let out a roar, rushing forward only to be knocked away by a massive paw.

The creature stood three people tall. It resembled a massive wolf, covered in black fur and feathers. Its ears jutted forward like knives, with long, raven black feathers draping over its eyes. A mane of those same feathers coated its neck and back, with two sharp points stabbing from its shoulders. Instead of paws, its feet ended in long, razor sharp talons. Its cape of feathers fanned out, and its tail, coated in those same, sharp, rigid feathers, raised high into the air, the grating cacophony of feather on feather scattering the canopy as it shook.

It bristled against the invaders, its torso lying low to the ground. Its back shook with pent-up rage as it appraised the enemies before it.

“T-that’s a —!” Finn shouted.

“A Grim Diubh, yea! Thanks for the observation!” Wyn couldn’t help but shout.

“We can’t fight that thing!” Hoisting Magus onto his back, Finn urged the two to retreat.

“Let’s get out of here!” Shion started back, only to turn around in shock.

Riding on a pillar of earth, Wyn crashed down on the wolf, slamming the rock down. In response, it shook off the dirt, hailing miniature boulders on the group. Finn and Shion desperately slashed down the rocks as they fell atop them. Igniting her sword, she slashed down on its head, only to find her blade deflected off the iron-like feather lattice. With a shake and a roar, she was launched to the ground. She rolled off the landing, dodging to the side as the wolf lunged at her. Another pillar of earth shattered against the side of its head, sending it reeling.

It spun, its tail crashing into Wyn. Her arm shook as the blow sent her flying into the canopy. Finn and Shion went cold as they watched Wyn fly off, before it turned its attention to them. The two of them could swear that it was sneering at them, its upturned lips bearing its massive fangs.

It lunged forward, fangs open, before a tree top slammed it into the ground. Shocked, the two turned up. Wyn wiped blood from her lip, before slicing apart the tree top. Before it fell, she imbued it with mana, causing it to float. She leapt up and swung down hard, launching the tree down on the wolf.

With a pained cry, the wolf collapsed under a barrage of trees. Leaping from tree top to tree top, Wyn didn’t give it a moment to rest. From the sky, it was as if the forest canopy had a crater cave in. The forest seemed to still as the dust began to settle, and Wyn leapt down.

“What are you waiting for?! Get out of here! I’ll hold it off!” Wyn urged.

“Are you crazy? That thing’ll —!” Shion began to argue, but Finn quickly cut him off.

“Let’s go, man! Magus needs help, now! She can handle it!” Before running, Finn turned to Wyn. “Don’t try to kill that thing. Just worry about escaping.”

“That’s my line. Now hurry up, before it gets back up.”

From underneath the pile of trees, scraping noises emerged. With a ruffle of its feathers, the trees shredded into splinters, shaking off the remaining leaves and branches as though it were no more than water. It growled, its voice a low, reverberating hum that shook through the ground. If it was sneering before, it wasn’t anymore. Wyn could tell, underneath that curtain of black feathers, it was glaring daggers. It was taking her seriously. Wyn smirked.

Their lungs felt like they would burn as they sprinted. Finn glanced down at Magus, whose face was drenched in sweat. Beyond a small grimace, though, his expression hadn’t changed in the slightest. What was this guy made of?

“Stop.” Magus uttered. He grimaced again.

“Excuse me?” Shion shouted. “We need to get you back —”

“No. I am already too far.” Magus’ breathing grew heavier. Unslinging an arm, he watched as the cloth on his arm coiled and constricted. “Bring me back…”

“We can’t—”

“Bring me back!” Magus shouted. The nub that was his arm pulsed, as the cloth remade his flesh. But the regeneration was slowing, exponentially as the distance between them grew. At this rate, he was sure he’d cease functioning before the cloth fully repaired his arm. He had to get back to Wyn.

The two shared a nervous glance with each other, before beginning to turn back.

Blood dripped from a gash over her forehead. She wiped the red from her vision, stumbling back to her feet. Her sword felt heavy in her hands. She peered down the small slit in the ground, breathing a small sigh of relief. It was the only evidence that remained of the Quake that swallowed the creature. But she could still hear it, clawing away at the rock and dirt. The ground trembled each time one of its massive paws moved. She wouldn’t be able to catch her breath for long.

With a roar, it erupted from the ground, showering Wyn with debris. Without a moment’s hesitation, Wyn lunged forward, thrusting her sword. Without the feathers on its back, the sword cut through flesh, drawing both blood and a satisfying yelp of pain. It leapt back, its tail cleaving a gash into the earth as it did.

It drew itself tall, staring down Wyn, and Wyn reciprocated. The two circled around each other, the blood from their shallow wounds staining the ground. Suddenly, it stopped. The two points on its shoulder opened. The two beaks released an ear shattering screech. Wyn collapsed to the ground, grimacing as she shielded her ears from the horrible noise. If only that was it. As she staggered, a purple mist began to fall from the open beaks. As the dense haze touched the ground, she watched as the grass and ferns shriveled into wilted husks.

Poison! Immediately, Wyn covered her mouth and leapt backwards. But in one motion, the Grim Diubh shattered all the trees around it, launching and pinning Wyn to the ground. With the trees behind and above her, she was soon surrounded by the poison mist.

“Soaring Wings!” Wyn sputtered through her hand. Immediately, a massive burst of wind exploded out, blasting away the poisoned haze. With a slash, she shredded the trees apart and sprinted away. Seeing an opportunity, the Grim Diubh gave chase, howling.

While she maintained her explosion of air, Wyn wouldn’t be able to cast any other spells. She wasn’t sure how dangerous the poison it was expelling was, and she wasn’t willing to risk being able to last even a second under its effects. She hopped into the air, but the wind was turbulent, hard to control. With all her focus on simply blasting air away, there was very little left to propel her forward. But what was worse was that she was blowing away all her air as well. She could barely muster shallow breaths while that damn dog gave chase.

All of a sudden, though, three figures suddenly came into view.

“What the hell are you guys doing here?!” She shouted, before devolving into a coughing mess. She did not have the air to waste on shouting.

“W-what are we doing back here?!” Finn screamed, before Shion quickly covered his mouth. The three stumbled into Wyn’s air pocket, before Magus threw himself at Wyn.

“Quickly. Give me as much mana as you can spare.”

Without a word, Wyn poured as much mana as she could into Magus’ body, to the point her air pocket disappeared. In the next instant, a beam of purple light tore through the air, gouging out the right side of the Grim Diubh’s face. With a howl of pain, it clutched its wounded face, giving the opportunity for the four to sprint away.

The four collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, Wyn thankful to take in a lungful of air. After everyone had caught their breath, Wyn immediately began her scolding.

“What the hell were you guys thinking? After all that, why would you come running back? Do you guys have a death wish?!” However, after glancing down at Magus, at the black cloth covering his entire body, she quieted down. Right, the cloth.

“S-sorry,” Finn began apologizing. “But—”

“No, no, nevermind. I know why now…”

“Yeah, but what was that?” Shion exclaimed. “I can see why you’re named ‘Magus’ now. What kind of spell was that? And if you could—”

“I couldn’t,” Magus interrupted, his breath heavy. “I can’t— I can’t use magic without Wyn.”

“W-we need to get back. We need to report that thing, immediately.” Finn said. He glanced around at the wreckage, at the poison that still stained the ground purple and shriveled all the plants around them, before turning back to Wyn. “You… seriously fought that thing, all by yourself? That’s…”

“Don’t get too amazed.” Wyn shut down. “I barely hurt that thing.”

“But still…”

“Come on.” Wyn held up a small pouch of dirt, clutching her sword as a crutch. “Mission accomplished. Let’s go.”