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55. Basil - Upstream
🕑 Added 2024-11-20 03:19:55 +0000 UTC
Chapter 55
Upstream
I ran through the streets of Treledyne, feeling as if it was a place foreign to me. A smoky haze permeated the air, aggravating my eyes and making my chest burn the longer I spent in it, the sun above an angry orange when viewed through this unnatural filter. Ash stained the edifices of the normally whitewashed buildings, smears of soot like bruises. Worst though were the bodies that littered the cobblestones, often propped against buildings, as if people preferred to be upright when facing the end, but sometimes they were splayed out in the middle of the street where no one would normally be lying. The gross disorder of the situation I found quite disturbing, and I focused on that uncomfortable sensation instead of letting my mind linger on the true horrors I was seeing – vacant gazes, flesh torn like fabric, mouths agape but eerily silent.
Whenever I did chance upon someone moaning for aid, I gave them a Healing Potion or two, and once they could stand, pointed them in the direction of the safehouse. Thankfully, I had yet to find any wounded invaders, so I wasn’t forced to decide whether or not to murder a weakened foe, but I knew my luck in that regard would only stretch so long.
Cresting one of the sharper inclines of the thoroughfare, I came upon a pack of demons heading southward. Their individual coloration and shape varied, but there could be no mistaking their heritage, what with their horns, claws, and sharp teeth. They howled when they spotted me, sounding more beast than intelligent creature, making my blood run cold. However, this was not the first such group I had encountered since venturing out into the streets, and I was gradually becoming more adept at imposing my will onto my body, forcing it to do what I wished instead of the other way round.
The demons charged me, cackling with an unhinged glee, and I matched their movement if not their sadistic laughter, sprinting forward to meet them. I picked out the lead demon as I ran, pink, with a head-crest and long tail, and using my already summoned source, cast the Spell I had borrowed from my cousin.
A glittering Dome snapped into being, separating the demon from its comrades, many of them ricocheting off of the newly formed latticed grid. They quickly recovered, some of them clawing at the hardened air, and while a few sparks bled off of it, the Dome held strong. The first time I had used the Spell against a troop of orcs, I had flinched and fretted as they hammered away at it, but the demons now had no more success than those orcs had, and they eventually ceased their efforts, flowing around the Dome like a river around stone. The demons hissed at me as they passed but otherwise continued on their destructive way, seeming not to care that they were leaving one of their own behind.
The pink demon had been using this time to test the Dome from the inside, long tail lashing like a cat’s when it determined that it could not easily escape. It then focused on me with inky black eyes, as if its pupil had expanded to fill the entire socket.
“I do not normally torture my kills,” it said to me in a rasping voice, its mouth opening in four parts like some sort of toothed flower, “but for you I will make an exception.”
It dashed toward me then, claws outstretched. I doubted this demon was as strong as the Yveda we had faced in the woods or even Haze from the tournament, but I didn’t wish to take any chances, so I summoned a Protection between us.
The demon crashed into the large shield that formed, similar to how its fellows had collided with the Dome. By the time it had righted itself, I had a Master Shieldbearer summoned, which the demon bounced off of just as ineffectually, shedding a card of damage in the process.
Its next attempt had some Nether Source Power behind it, its claws limned in purple energy, but even then, it only did 1 damage to my Shieldmaster and took the same in return.
The demon shrieked in frustration, spittle flying from its petaled mouth, summoning demons of its own. A leathery-winged creature resolved into being, clawing at its caster before launching into the air, which brought another, smaller demon forth – the very combination I had seen Hull use before.
However, by then, I had my Acanthi summoned, who weathered the Root Imp’s attacks stoically.
My Master Shieldbearer was durable enough to withstand the blows from both the Gremlin and the demon summoner, slamming its shield into the Gremlin and shattering the Uncommon into shards. In a regular duel this would have been a poor play since the Gremlin had been about to Expire, but using the power of the Dueling Dome, I could tell that my opponent was already out of cards – squinting at them, not a single glowing rectangle flitted around its form.
Only four cards, I mused to myself. It wasn’t surprising, not truly; that just seemed to be the way with these grunt troops no matter which army they were part of. The trouble they posed wasn’t their individual power, but how blasted many of them that there were.
The demon sent his Root Imp dive bombing at me again, but this time I let my Master Shielbearer block it, who I had Healed with my Life Source. The Imp slipped a long nail through my Bodyguard’s armor, causing the Soul to grunt, but then the Shieldmaster crushed the Imp’s head between its shields, the winged creature crumbling into dust.
The demon summoner hadn’t joined the attack, and if it had, I would have blocked it with my Acanthi to ensure that our duel didn’t end prematurely. Instead, the demon slunk along the periphery of the Dome, watching me warily. I used the reprieve to let my Acanthi Regenerate and Heal my Master Shieldbearer back up to full. After that, I still didn’t initiate an attack and began Healing myself, regaining the cards I had recently used.
“Is this how you humans torment your prey?” it accused as it watched me work. “By making them wait?” It spat the last word at me, the four corners of its mouth quivering.
“I will end this when I choose to and not a moment before,” I answered, continuing to cycle through my whole deck, discarding and Healing until I drew back the Dueling Dome. While doing this, I circled to the left, and the demon mirrored me, keeping a set distance between us. I wished I could just move the Dome itself, but once cast, it remained stationary. I could, however, get into the best position for when it came down.
I glanced over my shoulder, looking through the glittering latticework to see if the path ahead was clear. Down the way I saw a cluster of undead shambling along, pursuing some red-robed summoning school students. They appeared overmatched, but there was nothing I could do for them here, so I sent up a prayer to Fate and Fortune, hoping the Twins would show more mercy to the living than they had to those who were already dead.
A sizzle and a hiss were the only warnings I had, and I turned to find a bolt of purple energy less than a foot from my head. Time slowed, showing me that Fate cared at least enough for that, giving me a chance to react. Like my opponent’s limited card pool, this too was no great surprise: in a last ditch effort, the demon had used a Nether Source Explosion. Just as Edaine had instructed us to, even with my cycling, I had cards waiting in my Mind Home for just such an eventuality. However, it made more sense to lose one card than a handful, so I cast the same Protection Spell, having returned it to my Hand a few minutes ago.
Once again, the bronze shield sprung up, absorbing damage meant for me. The shield didn’t even dent, meaning it had probably only been three or four source worth of power. When the Spell dissipated, I fixed the demon with my gaze.
“Are you quite finished now?” I asked, to which it replied with a deep-throated hiss and a lash of its tail. Its odd coloring and headcrest aside, it really did behave like a cat – a cat that had probably killed multiple people on its way here. “Go ahead,” I called up to the Acanthi.
With a great sigh, sounding like wind blowing through willow branches, the massive green creature brought the full grown tree it carried like a club down on my opponent. The demon tried to dodge, scurrying to the side, but Fate was not so easily avoided, and the head of the oak came crashing down on the pink creature.
With that finishing blow struck, the Dueling Dome began to disintegrate in motes of light, and as it fell, so too did my summoned Souls vanish. Not my Source though, nor the cards in my hand, which I gripped tightly as I bolted northward.
I heard the demon groan, probably surprised to find itself still alive. That was the one downside of my plan to use the safety of the Dueling Domes to leapfrog my way to Esmi: I wasn’t diminishing the number of invaders because I didn’t dare risk staying in any one place without the protection of the Dome. Part of me felt badly for leaving such a killer loose, just as I had the last two times, but it would be stripped of cards for a time, and Treledyne was not without its defenses – I had seen guards as well as students and other nobles fighting down a few different streets, so if Fortune favored us, one of them would come across the demon before its deck refreshed.
For my part, I ran as fast as my legs would carry me toward the northern wall. I could see the upper portion of the great breach, but I was still a mile distant at least, the intervening buildings stopping me from seeing who or what was fighting at its base. There must not have been enough people to plug the hole if so many invaders were filtering down to me, but perhaps I could place a Dueling Dome in the gap and stop the influx for a time that way. I doubted the Dome could withstand an infinite number of attacks, but at this point, anything to stem the tide, even if it was only for a few minutes, would surely be useful for our forces, either to regroup or fall back.
Assuming we still had forces there at all…
Where is the king? I found myself wondering, not for the first time. Perhaps he was sweeping through the streets, purging them of invaders, or maybe he was picking off the enemy generals one by one. The man I had spoken to in the throne room had radiated a desire to bring the world in line with his wishes, and I couldn’t imagine a war changing his vision. I didn’t exactly respect him – Treledyne was too imperfect for that – but what he had accomplished and the power he had amassed to achieve it was enviable. Surely he must be using it now for us.
It wasn’t long before I came upon a sprawling mass of undead, and once again, I caught one out with the Dueling Dome. This decaying creature had only two Death source and a single Zombie, which it kept resurrecting by using its Source Power, sending it at me again and again.
Like before, my Master Shieldbearer and Acanthi were more than enough to keep the Soul and summoner at bay, but unlike my previous encounter, the undead outside the Dome did not leave us to our duel. Instead, they practically laid against the bright walls, moaning and scratching at it with broken nails, waiting for it to come down. I even saw one cast some sort of dark lighting at me, but blessedly, it did not penetrate my Spell.
As I worked through how I might handle this new wrinkle, to my great dismay, I saw a veritable horde of undead approaching from the adjoining streets. It seemed that my three-story tall Dome was not only granting me protection but also serving as a beacon for my enemies to find me.
“Think, Basil, think!” I muttered to myself while my Master Shieldbearer rebuffed yet another Zombie attack. One clever trick wasn’t going to be enough to get me all the way to my fiancée. I needed to use cards to escape that I wouldn’t require for my next duel, and I needed to go now. Even if they only had a single card a piece, there was no way I’d be able to break through a group twenty bodies thick, and Equality wouldn’t get the job done since very few of them had the extra vibrant look of Summons.
I gave myself another minute to cycle cards, and then Devoted the Acanthi, smashing the undead summoner into the cobbles. As soon as the Dueling Dome was down, I cast my Scalemail from my hand and dashed to the east, where the number of undead was the lightest.
The Armor was just to catch any stray hits I may not see coming. My real play was using Defensive Kata the moment the first desiccated limb reached for me.
I then pumped more Air into the Spell with each successive enemy I slipped past, slapping limbs and rusted weapons away, until I broke free from the group. I ran full out once I was free, but not fast enough to stop two Spells from catching me. I hadn’t even seen what they were but recognized the slowdown that accompanied being struck with cards well enough and tossed a pair of Executions over my shoulder.
No additional cards flaked off of me when time resumed and then I was around the corner and out of their view. My pace didn’t slow as I shot down this new stretch, even though running at such speeds made it considerably harder to Heal myself with Life source. It wasn’t just the enemy I was working hard to get away from; seeing so very many of them in the city made me fearful for what Esmi, Hull, and the others must be facing. I had tried to give Esmi one of my Master Shieldbearers for protection, just as I had the elves, but she had refused me, saying her deckbuild had no extra space. After that refusal, I had nearly given her the Charbonder marriage earrings I had gotten from the King’s Vault, the ones I had planned to share with her on our wedding day, but instead, I let Azure hurry me away.
My offhand clutched the curved jewelry in my pocket. What if I never got the chance to see her face alight at the gift? What if –
A building to my left exploded in a shower of stone, a massive Soul I knew all too well stumbling through it.
My mother crouched on one of the Sea Titan’s great shoulders, managing to keep her balance, and on the other was my brother Randel, holding tightly to one of the tentacles the Titan had in place of hair. I skidded to a halt as the ground shook from the raining debris, searching frantically for what threatened to topple them and found a white-haired woman floating through the air, headed in their direction. She was sallow-cheeked and bony, much like the group I had just escaped, but with plenty of source and cards at her disposal that she could unleash.
“The lich…” I breathed in shock and horror. For some reason, I had assumed that the generals would still be on the other side of the wall. Did the Mythic undead want my mother’s ability to sense elevation levels, or perhaps something of my brother’s? Unknowing, I summoned Atrea, and sent her streaking toward them with the slim hope that she might somehow help.
The winged knight was only halfway there when she came to a sudden, jerking stop, baffling me. The lich hadn’t looked in her direction, so that couldn’t be the cause, and I hadn’t seen any Spells target my Epic. It was then I realized that the Sea Titan was no longer struggling to stand, remaining tilted backward at an awkward angle, and even the lich seemed to have stopped her slow advance.
Yet one thing did move, floating down from on high, his long cloak snapping in the wind while all else was still.
Our king had come to save us all.
Comments
iridium248
Basil could absolutely have saved those students. THEIR BLOOD IS ON YOUR HANDS, BASIL!
RainbowPhaze
I guess dueling whatever chump you come across is a good way to buy time for a reprieve
Sharrif
Ohhhhhhhh SNAP.
