Air turned thick and caustic. A coiled choking cloud that stuttered the scream in her lungs to a burning hacking cough. Her mind was swallowed by the desperate need for breath. Hands fell limp, scraping over new ground. Slick and crusted, beneath beaten palms.
By the time she drew in an eyestinging, wretched lungful, her body had rolled to a stop. The crush of magic around her leg vanished and Elianna pushed herself up. Away. Her head whipped, scanning her new horizon.
The distance was a kaleidoscope. Unsettled. Everchanging. Rocks and sky and tree and shadows. The rise and fall of a kingdom in the blink of an eye. Only to start all over again in a beat. Too much. Too big.
The foreground was easier. More focused. On one side, the eluvian she had been dragged through. Shattered irreparably. Shards of glass dashed across the ground, along with any hope of leaving that way. Then on the other side, seven doorways hewn into stone. Barred. Bolted. Sealed forever and ever. Except for one. The gaping maw of darkness where a door used to be, hung like an open wound. The edges still smouldered from where it had been blown apart.
Elianna took an instinctive step back and something squelched.
Red. Thick and cooling. A pool had formed beneath her feet. On her hands. Her clothes. Mounds and masses of something flesh like painted the ground. The stray glimpse of an ear, the broken twisted bones of a hand, the eyes unseeing, eternally terrified, were the only things marking them as being people once.
Something had torn through these people. Rendered flesh from bones as easy as hot metal through ice.
Andruil.
They had freed her and this was their prize.
Acid clawed up her throat before she could stop it. Vomit joined the mess at her feet.
"Aww little pup can't hold her stomach."
Manic and mocking, it came from behind her. Elianna, reared with a scream. Her already ravaged throat burned with the effort.
Nothing behind her. She spun. Nothing in front. Laughter, high, piercing. Close too close. Where was she? A flash of red. A hint of light. The shine of a predators eyes before it strikes.
Curved claws and skeletal fingers twined around her throat. Squeezing, coiling, she was hefted high. Her toes scrambled for purchase against empty nothingness. There was just enough slack in the goddess's grip for a rasp of air and a cry to break through.
Andruil's unnatural, demonic face, leaned in closer. The scent of rotten meat on her breath. "Such a pathetic little thing aren't you."
A tongue, too long for her mouth, flicked out. It traced a scorching, slimy line up the side of Elianna's face. Lapping up the fresh blood.
"Let me go!" Elianna tried to scream, but the pressure on her neck increased.
Wheezing. Choking. Air. Not enough air. She was going to die.
I don't want to die!
A roiling, rage of mana, fanned from spark to flame in seconds, erupted from within her. Tremendous and terrified. An explosion with a single solitary purpose. To burn the danger away from her.
Elianna became a pyre. Magic from the fade seeped into her bones, bolstering her up, burning her higher. Her magic was never this powerful before.
Air returned in a hot slap as Andruil threw her aside. Elianna barely felt it as her body crashed harshly to the unrelenting ground. Her uncooperative limbs were still ablaze, as she forced herself upright. A fierce golden glow simmered in her usually blue eyes.
There was power in this place. She could fight back.
Elianna growled, open-mouthed and wild.
Elianna was rather tall, for an elf that is. Already a couple of inches taller than her mamae. But standing before Andruil she may as well have been the rabbit shems always thought they were. She towered, dominated. 8ft of long limbs, lyrium and loathing.
Andruil stared at her smouldering hand with irritation. With a wave of her fingers, skin smoothed over. Angry red turned back to corpse pale. A new delight lit up the goddess' eyes as she beheld the elvhen torch before her.
"So you do have teeth after all. That will make this so much more fun."
Wordless and snarling, Elianna threw her power out. A torrent of fire aimed right for Andruil's head.
She missed.
No. It wassmothered.
A whirlwind of solid air, sucked the fire away. Quick. Too quick to replace. It sputtered in Elianna's hands until pyre became candle flame, became nothing. Andruil batted it away with a careless wave.
The rush of spite and hope left along with it.
"This is how it is going to go little pup," she said, stalking closer. Elianna leaped back with each advancing step. But the impossibly tall goddess swallowed up the distance with a beastial gait. "I am going to kill you. Perhaps I'll gut you, bleed you, slice a poem into your skin, create a symphony with your cries. It has been so long, I want to savour it. I want my pound of flesh before I dump your body at the Dread wolf's feet."
Panic carved a corrosive path through her body. Beating, burning, breaking. A living thing that hammered against her ribcage, thundered in her ears.
"But first," Andruil said, yanking Elianna's arm and spinning her to face the horizon. The ground split and bubbled like a cauldron. It rose up, higher and higher. A tangle of vines, leaves and branches emerged from the mass. A jungle formed in the blink of an eye.
"First, I will hunt you."
With a violent shove Elianna was sent sprawling into the unknown.
The fade was not logical. The fade was not kind. It gnawed and warped and bled. Ground turned to mud, turned to ash, turned to snow. Trees bent to none existent wind, uprooted themselves and changed position at will. They would jump into her path, there in a blink, gone in another. She twirled and tripped and tumbled, feet bleeding, hands reaching. Instinct and adrenaline was the only thing that kept her moving, kept her breathing.
Elianna lashed out. A mouse against a lion. Power with no defined shape shot from trembling hands. To burn, to freeze, to fry. It hit empty air. Laughter followed in its wake.
She wasn't alone. Her torment drew witnesses. A burning beacon to the curious residents. Shimmering shades, flitted on the edge of her vision. Glowing and vaguely humanoid. No telling whether they were friend or foe. Spirit or Demon.
One reached out. A hand in the dark. A guide. It pulled her aside as earth crumbled and disappeared beneath her, leaving a gaping deep darkness.
"M-ma serranas. I–"
The spirit shattered. The hand in her grasp disintegrated into smoke and shards that cut her palm. An arrow–if it could even be called that at over a meter long and emitting a ghostly green hue–buried itself in a tree to her left. The shining essence of the spirit dripped down the trunk.
It had tried to help and now it was dead.
Her body did not allow her to feel the horror, the devastation at seeing something cease to be in blink of an eye. That would come later.
Elianna twisted and sprinted away.
She could not keep up this pace forever. Already, her breath was sawing out of her chest. The muscles in her legs sang, stinging, discordant. Adrenaline the only thing keeping them pumping.
Other spirits met their end around her in a rain of arrows and crystal. The rest fled, not daring to get too close to Andruil's prey. Elianna felt hope shrivel with each light that left.
The huntress was a breath on her neck. Hot and heavy and everpresent. There was no escape. This was her domain. The fade played by her rules.
But maybe it could play be hers too.
She needed to be faster. Needed a body built for speed. Not prey, but a predator all her own.
Elianna reached for the magic around her with forceful, greedy hands. Swathed herself in a cloak of it and felt her body respond. Twisting, stretching, pulling, pushing. It warped her form until it was four legs pounding against the earth. Strong and clawed and covered in grey fur.
The wolf howled as it hurtled over perilous terrain. She heard the angered gutteral cry behind her but did not slow to look.
She was making ground. She could get away. Instincts were sharper in this shape. Sight more focused. Sound more clear. Her ears flicked at the soft whoosh of wind cleaving apart. Near silent before, now it was a ringing alarm bell. She ducked away, clawed paws finding solid purchase beneath soft ground.
Distance between her and the goddess widened with each bounding leap. Only when the sound of Andruil's screaming seemed a world away did she allow herself slow. Hot breath left her in pained pants. Even as a wolf she couldn't go on forever.
What were her options here?
Elianna kept to the shadows of wide trunks and rocks, willing her muddied pawprints away in a shimmer of mana.
She needed to get out of the fade. That much was obvious. She needed Mamae. She needed Papae. She needed–
Her throat constricted. Her eyes burned. She didn't even know if she could cry in this strange wolf body she had contorted herself into. It built up within her, a sharp, shaking thing that had nowhere else to go. A pathetic mewling whine hummed out of her before she could tamp it down.
Stop! Not Yet. Not Now!
There could be other eluvians that connected to the fade. Other exits than the broken one behind her. Distance in the fade wasn't the same as the real world. She could cover miles in minutes. If she just looked hard eno–
A step turned to agony. Gravity flipped. Pain erupted. Deep and sharp and bleeding. A trap had sprung, invisible in the dead leaves. A loop of rope and teeth of metal cinched around her back leg and tugged. She was flung upside down, head smashing against the ground and hauled high. A lupine yowl convulsed into elven cries as her magic melted away.
Pain was white hot and blinding. The skin of her right ankle was pierced and the rope pulled taut by her weight as she swung, helplessly.
Arrows rained down, falling free from her quiver. Tooth picks compared to Andruil's own. They scattered across the floor. Her leather helmet also slipped free and thudded against the ground, casting her hair into a golden waterfall. Mud soaked into the ends.
Her stomach muscles screamed as she tried to reach up. Tried to tear the thing away. She barely grazed her ankle before the pain sent her spasming, struggling to breathe. She couldn't do it. It was too much. Too painful. She couldn't think.
"Help me. Help me. Sathan. Ma halani," she whispered, pleaded, begged.
She did not want to die.
"Quick, she's coming." A voice, soft and high, coming from somewhere in front of her. She spied a subtle orange glow, hiding in the underbrush. A spirit.
"I can't," she sobbed, tears flowing into her hairline.
The spirit paused, unmoving, perhaps unwilling to help after so many spirit deaths. A beat, then another. Each more excruciating than the last. Its, glowing eyes seared into her soul, before it seemed to decide. With a wave of its hand, the rope frayed, snapped, the ground swelled. Elianna fell, limp arms moving to break her fall.
The spirit beat her to it. A haze of shimmering orange, like fire given form, spectral yet tangible. It cradled her battered body, cushioning the fall. She was bundled, moved, covered. By the time her vision righted itself she found herself tucked away, folded into the hollow of a tree. There was just enough room to bring her knees to her chest. The spirit squeezed her way into the empty gaps around her. Like liquid forming to the shape of a bottle. A curtain of vine and moss inched across the opening until only a small gap remained.
Her tortured ankle screamed with the effort of movement. Of being forced to bear weight. The rope still clung there. Barbs sunk into the skin. Curved and wicked. They resembled the thorns of a rose bush only sharper. Her leg would be a mess underneath. Torn and bleeding. But she couldn't stomach removing it yet. Would it hurt just as much coming off?
She didn't have time to ponder the answer.
"I can smell your fear little pup."
The sound made her flinch, made her choke down a cry. The spirit held a finger to her lip and she nodded, understanding, but struggling. Tears streamed as she bit down on her lip.
When Andruil's long legs strode into view, she had to crush her hand to her mouth to smother the sound.
She stalked in front of their hiding spot. Close enough for Elianna to smell the rotten scent of her. The urge to gag whorled up and Elianna covered her nose too. Breathing was a luxury she couldn't afford.
The uncanny smile slid from Andruils face as she stared at the empty swinging trap. Replaced by a growl. She knelt down, clawed hand sliding through the bloodied mud and lifting up her helmet. Andruil brought it closer to her face and inhaled.
There was bound to be a trail, a scent, leading her right to their hiding spot. No way out. Nowhere to run. Andruil was going to find her.
The spirit pressed closer. A warmth draping over her skin. A kindness at the end of everything. It made her want to sob for an entirely different reason. Her lungs burned with the effort of holding her breath.
Andruil's face turned to their occluded alcove and Elianna squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't want to see the moment recognition would flare. Did not want to see her death reflected in eyes of red. She would close her eyes, like a child under a blanket, and wish.
The scream that tore through the air was Elianna's.
Only it had not come from her lips.
It echoed through the trees, far away and moving. A twisted version of her own voice begged for help and the huntress ran to it like a shark to blood.
Her breath came out in a rush. Relief and confusion warred within her and Elianna dared not move. It could be a trick. A ploy.
Something flickered in front of the tree. A flash of blue. A hint of movement.
"Tricked and taunted, the huntress catches the wrong scent. But not for long. You can't stay here little wolf."
"Cole?" the word became a sob.
His soft glowing hand pulled at the protective curtain separating them from the rest of the forest. He had no distinct lines or edges but he was still Cole-shaped. The damned hat was still on his head, even in spirit form.
"I used your voice. I cast it into the fade and sent her running. Grab my hand, we need to go."
It took the work of both spirits to tug her out of the hiding spot. Any weight placed on her ankle had her seeing bright spots and nearly collapsing. The orange spirit at her side kept her from falling.
"Thank you, for saving me. What are you?" she said, wanting to know the name of her saviour.
"Curiosity," it said "I had never seen a wolf turn into an elf before. I wanted to see more. Wanted to help."
A howl of rage cut through the forest. They were running out of time.
"How do we get out of here?" Elianna begged.
"The eluvian shattered. We must find another," Cole said.
"There's no time," said Curiosity, dragging a heavy limbed Elianna further into the woods. It took a few pained stumbling steps before they found a rhythm. Cole reached for her other shoulder picking up the pace even more.
"There's a hole. A gap. An opening. Knowledge says it leads out of the fade, but none of us have been brave enough to test it." Curiosity said.
"A hole? Like a rift?" she asked.
Like the stories Mamae told her about the breach. About Corypheus and the anchor.
"No, this is different," it said "It's stable, doesn't suck you in like the rifts did. It doesn't feel malign."
Was she really about to jump into a hole which only defining feature was 'it wasn't malign'?
A roar through the trees; a crash in the undergrowth; the unmistakable pounding of feet, made her decision for her.
She was definitely jumping into a sketchy hole.
"Scent caught, she seethes, she sees. We must move quickly. Duck!"
The three of them threw their heads down. An arrow soared above, missing by a hair. Curiosity pulled and they all lurched to the left. The fade warped beneath their stumbling feet as Curiosity exerted her own will on the land. Each step was a mile, eating up the distance, guiding them closer to their goal.
But the will of a goddess was not so easily snuffed.
The forest started fighting back. Roots grew across their path. Grass became razors that whipped and cut. Vines reached and stretched. It took all three of them to maneuver their way through the labyrinth.
"Its there, up ahead," said Curiosity.
The jungle dropped away in a stark rigid line, giving way to smooth grey stone. Flat and featureless for as far as the eye could see. Except for one patch, dead ahead. An emptiness lay where she pointed. It wasn't dark or black or gloomy. Just a nothingness where the world hadn't been painted in yet. A circle of void about six feet across.
It did not exactly scream 'safe exit strategy'.
They were also not going to make it.
Andruil appeared in all her malevolent glory. Bow in hand, readying to aim.
Curiosity disentangled itself from Elianna. The loss of her warmth cut like a knife.
"W-what are you doing?"
"Go!" it said, urging them forward "I'll distract her."
"No!"
She was given no room to argue. Cole readjusted his hold and hauled her, pushed her. Curiosity gave her a sad smile before it turned and charged a goddess.
Fire given form, Curiosity burned bright. A blinding flash of power sent Andruil's arrow sailing in the wrong direction.
Cole used the distraction to press onwards, faster. Her ankle screamed with each juddering footfall but she didn't stop. Couldn't stop.
A sound like a shattering diamond rent the air in two and Elianna knew, without turning around, that Curiosity had died for her. The spirit hadn't even known her.
"So close, nearly there. Come on little wolf."
The hole yawned closer. Just a little bit more. They were going to make it.
"Not so fast you wretched whelp!"
With a cry, Cole shoved her sideways.
Time slowed. Seconds became an eternity.
Splintered fragments of a once gleaming life, rained down upon her. A shower of glowing shards. Compassion turned to crystal.
Flesh tore. Muscle and meat and nerves. Voltaic, burning, agony. An arrow skewered its way through her shoulder.
This was it.
Cole was dead and now so was she.
Except no ground rose to meet her.
The momentum of the hit sent her stumbling headfirst through a hole to anywhere. She could just make out Andruil's scream before darkness swallowed her whole.