Chapter XVIII: Monte Cristos
AN:
Hey there, Fan-fic-folks!
I know the physical description of Cristos in this chapter is almost certainly wrong. I can't find my copies of the books he's in and there seems to be no available description online either, so I made something up. If anyone has an accurate description, do please let me know and I'll substitute it for my made-up version. :D
Thanks for reading and, as always, please review.
We came out of the way at a full sprint. I could hear my blood rising like a dramatic drumbeat. Ebenezar was leading the way, moving with strength and agility beyond his years. Emergency was a potent motivator and we needed it - the path ahead was heavily wooded and as hilly as Edinburgh. Even Ancient Mai seemed fine with it, gliding through with an elven deftness to spite her 'elegant old teacup' vibe.
Dog, Myanmar had some beautiful forests. If there was one thing to be said for this entire disastrous nightmare, it's that it took us to some very, very pretty places. I'd always heard Myanmar was a beautiful country, but we had no time to really appreciate it as we ran like bats out of hell with our asses on fire. I decided (quickly) to come back here after things were all wrapped up, take the time to properly see the sights.
Maybe bring my camera.
Ebenezar slowed as we crested the last hill, gesturing ahead with his staff. "There!" There was a small wooden building sitting tucked into a small outcrop beneath the hills. The place was rough - maybe before it had been a nice place, but now it looked like some serious magical energy had been thrown at it. It was full of holes, discoloured, and broken.
There wasn't even a threshold anymore - we burst right in.
The place was... empty? There was no sign of a struggle. No sign of... anything bad at all? What? The outside had been wrecked, but the inside was fine?! Oh, I fucking hate magic sometimes. Maybe there was some weird illusion or shield or something - we'd have to ask the guy when we found him.
And speaking of - if there was nothing here, where was the bloody councillor?
After a moment of us standing there, a voice, hurried and harried, spoke from the walls. "I have had to run. They're close, far too close. I'm not sure if this will work, but I haven't time for anything else. I'm going to get somewhere clear of traumatic energy - whatever tracking spells you have will work. But so will theirs. Please hurry. I'm... I'm scare-" The voice cut off.
"You heard the man!" Luccio barked, whirling into action. "Tracking spells!"
Ancient Mai, Liberty, Listens-to-Wind, and Ellis all started casting at the same time. And all of them pointed off in different directions. Ah, fuck.
Luccio sighed. "There must still be interference. Let's get out of the building and try find a trail."
We scurried out and headed back up to the top of the hills - we could see a lot further up here and there was less psychogeographic interference to fuck around with the spells. Line of sight and all that. I could hear the others chattering and bitching about it all, comparing spells and outputs and ideas, until eventually Liberty's spell suddenly started sparking.
"That way!" She pointed off towards another set of hills in the distance. The stretch between us was an unbroken canopy of trees. Welp. Sooner we start going, sooner we get there, I guess. I trotted after the others, feeling oddly like one of the seven dwarfs.
Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to war we go.
We stormed up the incline, cresting the layer of forested hills up to an almost mountainous jut that stuck up out of the trees like an awkward thumb. Ebenezar still took point, Luccio hot on his heels, but Liberty called out the directions for us to follow.
Eventually - after more running than I'd ever done before - Luccio finally called a halt. "Spell-light ahead!"
We could see flashes of purple and blue magic through the trees - no clear light source, but the impact of spells being thrown showed strong. We all refreshed our own protective magics before advancing slowly, fanning out to- There was an abrupt scream, deeply terrified. Then the lights vanished.
Caoimhe let out a slow "Fuuuck."
Luccio didn't bother giving her The Look. Instead we continued onward, careful and wary, because what the hell else was there?
We came to a- I'd call it a clearing, if we were back at the forest level. Trees grew partially up this side of the mountain, but stopped about halfway, leaving an almost semi-circular empty space that had almost no plant life growing. At this height, I think it might be a plateau? Or ridge? Whatever. The ground was charred and dry and-
Completely fucking empty? Agai-
Suddenly, the area lit up once more and the whole forest seemed to swarm with life as warlock upon warlock, monster upon monster, screaming and howling thing upon thing, crawled out of the trees. And some of the trees began crawling forward too, huge craggy faces appearing the bark. Every one of the things I could see had the same expression - an almost feral hunger.
Caoimhe let out a slow "Fuuuck."
We spread out quickly, ensuring we were in easy distance to support each other, but enough to cover the full arc of enemies slowly and inexorably flowing towards us. There was no gap left, just an endless sea of forms.
Then the horde swarmed forward.
I tapped my wands together, shouted a word of Elvish (Tolkien, not Faerie) and threw lightning out into the crowd. A river of them twitched and howled, their skin crackling and blackening as the energy spread.
That was all they needed. That horde rush became a surge, a torrent that rammed itself up against the Elder Council's hastily erected barriers. Said barriers flickered with the force of it. A call went out from one of the Warlocks, something deep and harsh and growly - then magic started appearing from various points in the horde, launched up at the weakening shield.
Ebenezar looked at me, though I could see a vein in his temple wiggling with the strain of the magic. "You ready for this, Max?"
"Born ready, sir!"
He chuckled. "That must've been hell on your poor mom. I'll have to send her a condolence card once we're done here."
As the Horde pushed again, the Senior Council pushed back.
The first volley was a crackling display of power, arcs of magelight and primal elements that slammed into the first ranks of the horde and spread like a Lichtenberg figure. The Horde filled the gaps of the dead in a moment and surged forward again as another volley from the Warlocks hit the shield.
The shield just snapped.
Suddenly, we were buried in monstrous flesh. Sharp claws raked across my arm - I screamed as the pain flashed through me. Bastards! Back off! I instinctively pulled magic in and slammed it down, forcing the crush back from me with a push of compressed air. Ebenezar picked up my trick and pushed his own monsters back, clearing a space for us to breathe again.
The Council pulled in closer and set up shields again, this time on a smaller scale and at an angle the Warlocks couldn't easily levy volleys of spellfire at. Though they still managed it. They were free to reposition while we were hemmed in.
Each of us just hit them again and again with whatever we had. There wasn't time to think or analyse or anything. Just instinct. I had no idea what the others were doing, aside from the occasional sound of swords swinging and lights and sounds coming from either side.
All I could really focus on was what was in front of me.
Most of them were a blur, coming as a horde crushed so close together they might as well have been a single thing with a hundred arms and claws and teeth. I'd resorted to the lightning just to hit most of them, weakening them enough that the swarm pulled them down for me and did the rest. I don't know how long we fought before the horde thinned and things felt... calm is the wrong word. Conscious, maybe?
There was this thing that imposed itself on reality like a bloodstain and looked like a big, midnight-blue stag stuffed with something like a sack of bees. The skin of it writhed and wriggled and squirmed, even the two enormous, scythe-like horns that stuck out from above burning eyes. It wobbled towards me like a parasite trying to learn new legs - I underestimated it because of that, and took a moment too long to ready my spell.
The creature lashed out with a terrifying speed, striking with stinging pains that felt like my own skin was going to tear itself out from the inside. I can't even describe the fear I felt whenever it touched me - that deep, primal horror of something getting in that should not be.
There was a shout behind me and the protections fell - more and more creatures forcing their way in. One from behind knocked me into the infested stag and I screamed, lashing out with something before I could think. It fractured like sky and split open, skin and space folding and contorting in ways they should not do.
A spell flew in from the left and the entire thing popped like a bubble.
Another moment later and a crackling ball that looked like those electric sphere things that you tap and it zaps you flew past me and into the treeline. I heard the warlocks screaming and it seemed like that broke a spell on the monsters in our midst.
Another moment later and the Elder Council pushed enough power into the surroundings to create a fucking sun. The mix of fire and force and fuck knows what else tore through them, almost halving their number.
And then, a mercy. They broke! The bastards broke!
Like a suddenly discovered colony of insects, the few remaining creatures of the horde scattered to the winds, leaving the few remaining Warlocks standing open for Ebenezar and the Wardens to retaliate. They weren't standing for long. Or in possession of complete necks.
We paused. Honestly, this moment was probably as split-second as the others, but it felt long and quiet in a way that reminded me of a graveyard. Then the moment was broken.
With no warning, Luccio growled and strode forward to the treeline. She'd seen something. I followed her eyeline to spot a short, well-dressed man with well-coiffed, dirty-blonde hair that flowed pleasingly down his head. He had a pleasant face - a little bit of an unhealthy pallor, like someone who'd spent too long out of the sun - but he looked like someone you could trust. A friendly Mediterranean man who'd been a little down on his luck.
I hated him immediately.
