This Child Complete Us:
Panic at The Parade: Desperately Searching
The cultist didn't even get the chance to start a spell circle; Eda came down on him fast, like a bird dropping on its prey.
Eda concentrated all of her magic into the head of her staff as she jabbed it into the cultist's gut. The cultist screamed as they were sent flying out of the alley, hitting a nearby wall and going through it a second later.
Eda spun around on her heel and hurried to the wall, drawing a spell circle. A hole opened, and she jumped in, staff at the ready. Eda's eyes darted around the area, and she growled when she saw no one.
"Titan!" Eda swore angrily. "Those creeps can run fast."
Instead of fumming, the wild witch drew a spell circle. A thin, gold mist emerged from the circle, forming into a ball above Eda's hand. She held her hand out, and the ball unraveled, the mist traveling down to the ground.
Eda looked down and nearly screamed when she saw Camila's headband. She picked it up and clutched it tightly in her hand.
When Raine had agreed to this crazy plan, Eda had placed a locator spell on the human child's headband. She had made it so that the spell shouldn't be easily detected, but it seems like the cultists found it anyway.
Eda growled again as she placed the article of clothing into her hair, feathers poking out of her arm. She looked at her arm, took out one of her elixirs, and quickly downed it. She scowled, but not at the elixir's bitter taste, and tossed the empty vial over her shoulder.
The witch looked around the area, trying to get a lead on the possible path the cultists took. Did they continue on straight? Did they go right, maybe left? Or did they go underground? Or would they go topside, trying to run across the rooftops with an illusion cover?
Eda scowled as she felt her frustration growing. There were just too many unknowns and not enough clues to give her any leads.
The wild witch frowned when she saw something near the wall ahead of her. Eda walked up to the wall and picked up the item she saw. It was one of Camila's light glyphs.
Eda frowned in confliction, staring at the wall. She figured by this time, the cult probably knew about how a human casts magic. So it wasn't out of the question that the piece of paper was put there by the cultists with the goal to misdirect Eda.
Eda scowled as she weighed her options. If there was a trick, then that meant she would get further away from Camila. On the other hand, if Camila dropped this, then she was giving Eda a clue to follow.
Eda stared at the wall for a few seconds, her confliction giving away to anger, and she scowled. It didn't take long for the wild witch to come to a decision.
"Screwed it!" Eda exclaimed, drawing a spell circle.
She pressed her spell against the wall, and a large section crumbled to dust a few seconds later. Eda cautiously pulled her head into the hole and looked around. She scowled as she didn't see any signs that the cultists took Camila this way.
The wild witch was about to move on when she caught sight of a piece of paper near a wall to her right. She hurried over to it and found it was one of Camila's fire glyphs.
Eda grinned as she realized that this was Camila's doing after all. The human was leaving a trail for Eda to follow. Now, all that mattered was catching on with the cultists before they got too far.
"...Hold on, Squirt," Eda said encouragingly, "Mama's coming."
She drew a spell circle and aimed it at the wall, ready to give chase.
(SC)
Raine was nearly out of breath, but they didn't stop, racing down the streets in the direction Eda flew. After taking care of the cultists, the bard hurried after their girls.
However, things weren't easy. The area was still covered in cultists, and it seemed like they were after Raine. Anytime one of the cultists would spot them, they would attack Raine.
Speaking of the cultists, the bard let out a frustrated growl when a trio of cultists blocked their path. The cultist in the center of the trio drew a spell circle and summoned a beast Raine didn't care to identify.
"...I'm getting tired of you!" the bard growled, raising their violin to their chin.
The Beast keeper Cultist pointed at Raine, and their beast roared. Raine began to play a tone, and the place was covered in their magic. The bard watched as the cultist on the right drew a spell circle. Raine watched as the spell covered the beast, and they could take a guess that the cultist's spell was meant to counter certain types of bards' spells.
Raine grinned as a thought came to them and silently made changes to their spell.
The bard focused on the beast and watched as it suddenly was lifted from the ground. Raine looked back at the cultists but couldn't tell if they were startled by these events. The bard saw the cultist on the right start a spell circle, but Raine wouldn't let them complete it.
With a flick of their bowstring, Raine sent the beast flying into the trio. The cultists screamed as the creature knocked them to the ground. Raine was quick, bringing their bowstring to their instrument and began playing.
A wave of magic rushed out of Raine's violin and struck the cultists and the summoned beast. A second after their magic hit their opponent, Raine knew the trio and their summoned beast were now glued to the ground. Still, Raine kept their eyes on the cultists, learning from experience just how unpredictable they could be.
Raine saw the cultists struggling to get up and knew their spell wasn't countered. They then hurried off in the direction Eda fled.
They didn't get ever far as another group was close to them. Raine ducked into a nearby alley and tried to keep to the shadow, hoping the group didn't see them. They watched with bated breath as the group of two got close to the alley Raine ducked into. The two cultists look around, then into the alley. Raine made a spell circle but kept their moment to a minimum to reduce the risk of being seen.
After a few tense seconds, the cultists moved on. Raine held their breath for nearly a minute, waiting until the cultists had moved on entirely before stopping their spell.
Raine looked at the mouth of the alley and sighed. They reached into their pants pocket and took out a cloaking stone. Raine stared at the stone for a moment, then pressed it against their chest.
In a cloud blue stone, Raine was replaced with a demon with ram figures and wearing the teaching robes from St. Epiderm. Raine drew a new spell circle and tipped it against their throat.
"...Now," Raine said, speaking with an accent similar to Camila's, "Let's hope these cultists don't have spells in place that see through illusions."
Raine peeked out of the alley, scanning the area. They saw that the activity around them had diminished; the cultists were moving on, and those brave enough to try and fight them were either taken out or fleeing.
Raine frowned as they stepped out of the alley, keeping their senses tuned to their surroundings. They scanned the skies, trying to determine the route Eda took. The bard scowled when they realized they had somehow gotten turned around.
Raine considered doubling back and tried to pick up Eda's trail. They tensed when they heard a noise and drew a spell circling, snapping to their right. The bard didn't relax when they saw a rat scurrying past them.
The rat saw the witch aiming a spell at it, scratched its eye, then hurried off into the shadow. Raine watched the rat disappear and faintly sighed, canceling their spell.
The bard frowned as they looked to the sky. They scanned the sky, hoping against hope that Eda would pop up at any second, looking a little worse for wear but otherwise fine.
Raine almost shook their head at how desperate they seemed. With a sigh, they looked around their surroundings. They realized they were not too far from the marketplace, which was good. During their planning, Eda and Raine had decided to make the marketplace their meet-up place if they were separated.
Eda had informed Raine that she set up a hidden bunker under the "Mister Elixir" stand during one of her visits. A few days before Coven Day, both witches had taken their human charge on a tour of Bonesborough so Camila could get a layout of the city.
It wasn't an ideal plan, but it was the best they could come up with in the limited time they had.
So, with that in mind, Raine turned in the direction of the market and hurried off.
"Eda…Camila," Raine whispered in prayer, "Please be safe."
(SC)
Camila wasn't safe; she was trying to keep her fear from overwhelming her as one of the cultists carried her down a street to who knows where. The only thing keeping her from succumbing to her fears was the trail she was leaving behind.
The human child anxiously looked at her captor. Seeing they weren't paying attention, she reached into her pouch and took out a glyph card. The human was about to drop it when her captor took a sudden sharp turn, jerking Camila enough that her card went flying from her hand.
The human's fear nearly gripped her when her glyph flew into the cultist's sight, and they scratched it out of the air.
"Hey!" the cultist exclaimed, slowing. "Is this…?"
Trying to control her fears, Camila took out a light glyph and slammed her hands together. The cultist screamed as the flash of light blinded them, and they let Camila go.
The human hit the ground hard but tried to work through the pain as she grabbed the glyph the cultist dropped. Camila slammed the card on the ground between the cultist's feet. The cultist screamed as ice quickly formed around them, reaching up to the cultist's neck.
Camila watched as the cultist struggled to free themselves. She suddenly heard a shout and realized that the one who had gone ahead to scout the area had heard the noise. It wouldn't be long before the second cultist returned, and Camila didn't want to be here when that happened.
Camila turned and hurried down the path they had come, using the dropped glyph cards as a means to retrace her steps. She hoped, with any luck, she would run into Eda soon.
Suddenly, a wall of thick vines shot up in front of Camila. She gasped and tried to stop, stumbling as she lost her footing. The human barely managed to catch herself before she hit face-first into the wall.
Camila sweated as a flower bloomed in front of her. She heard footsteps behind her and finally gave in to her fear. In a panic, she spun around on her heels, taking out a glyph. She activated the fire spell and threw it at the advancing cultist.
The throw was messy, hitting the ground at the cultist's feet. Still, the spell had some effect, as the cultist's feet caught fire, causing them to scramble to extinguish the fire. Camila didn't wait for the cultist to finish; she spun around, trying to find a way to escape. She spotted an intersection and remembered that the street the intersection connected to led to the market.
Camila was about to bolt down the street when she saw something from the corner of her eyes. Despite being in a hurry, she looked at the flower and gasped when she saw something in one of its petals.
It was a glyph! The glyph had a circle with a dot connected to a triangle with a short line. Two more lines stuck out from the top of the circle and a single line in the center of the triangle.
Camila stared at the new glyph, trying to burn it into her memory, when she heard a noise. Not bothering to look back, the human gently but quickly grabbed the petals with the glyph on it and hurried down the street.
Camila ran as fast as she could, keeping her ears on the sounds around her, trying to keep alert if her ex-captors were following her. Unfortunately, the only thing she could hear was her own breathing and the beating of her heart against her chest.
The dark-skinned human turned down another street, then hurried into a nearby alley. She pressed herself against the furthest wall, trying to use the shadows to hide.
Camila sank to the ground, trying to get her breathing under control, clutching the flower's petals close to her chest. After a few seconds of tense silence, she got her breathing under control and heard no one following her.
Now with a few minutes of breathing room, the human looked at the petals in her hands, frowning. She studied the glyph in the petal for a few seconds, then took out a few blank pieces of paper from one of her pouches.
She set the stack down and took the top paper from it, grabbing a pen from her pocket. Camila looked at the glyph again and took a deep breath. She looked back at the paper and got to work.
Camila was surprised when she copied the glyph right the first time. She might have marveled at her improved drawing skills, but a noise caught her attention, and she quickly returned the paper to the stack.
The paper on top of the stack glowed, and the glow extended to the rest. The light faded after a few seconds, and Camila took two from the stack. She smiled when she saw perfect copies of her new glyph.
Ever since they learned there was more than one glyph, Eda and Raine came up with a plan in case Camila found any more. As Eda explained, the spell worked to copy anything placed on the top of the stack.
The wild witch demonstrated this by copying a light glyph and testing it, showing that the copies of the glyph work just as well as the original.
Camila stared at her new glyph card, curious about what this new spell could do. She gingerly tapped the glyph, and it glowed green. Her eyes widened as she saw a flower grow from the paper, instantly blooming.
"...Pretty," Camila gasped, holding the flower in both hands.
A crash suddenly brought Camila back to her senses, and she looked at the mouth of the alley. She saw a shadow approaching and realized she couldn't risk staying any longer. But there was a problem; the alley wasn't two-way.
Camila almost panicked again as the figure got closer to the alley. She looked down at the flower in her hand, then to the stack of glyph cards. She looked up to the roof of the alley, then back to her cards.
If this new…plant glyph worked like her ice glyph, she should be able to control it. Camila looked back at the roof and frowned. She wondered if she should try her idea, when a voice suddenly shouted.
"Check every square inch of the street! We can't let the subject escape!"
Camila felt her panic surge again, and she made her choice. She gently set the flower down and grabbed her paper stack. The human put them in her pouch but kept one out. She set it on the ground and pictured a large, thick vine growing out of it.
Camila took a deep breath and slammed her hand on it. The spell was cast, and like how she pictured, a vine with a flat surface grew out of the card. She gasped as the vine lifted her up, quickly ascending to the roofs.
She reached the roof just as two cultists stormed the alley.
"She has another spell!?" Camila heard one of the cultists scream.
The human ignored what was said next, jumping off her platform and making a mad dash for the other side. Camila heard a noise but didn't look back. Instead, she took out a plant glyph and used it to create a vine bridge to the next rooftop, hurrying over it as she heard footsteps behind her.
Camila tipped and dropped a fire glyph when she was halfway across the bridge. The vine caught fire just as she reached the next rooftop, but she didn't look back as she hurried over to the edge.
Suddenly, a cultist appeared on the rooftop, dropping from the sky. Camila came to a dead stop, stumbling slightly but managing to keep herself upright.
The dark-skinned human looked at the cultist, eyes wide with fright. The cultist approached Camila, drawing a spell circle. In a panic, Camile reached for her fire glyphs, but suddenly, her belt was yanked from her waist, causing her to fall.
The human looked up as her belt flew to the cultist and nearly gave into her panic when she felt the coldness coming off of the cult member.
"No more spells for you, Subject," the cultist said coldly. "Now, come back to where you belong."
The cultist began advancing on Camila, and the human tried to back away from them. The cult member saw this and let out a frustrated sigh, drawing a new spell circle. Camila gasped and flailed about as she was lifted off the roof.
Camila's eyes widened as she flew closer to the cultist. Suddenly, tiles with bat wings and a single eye swarm around the cultist. Startled, the cultist lost concentration on their spell, and Camila hit the roof's surface with a small groan.
"I wouldn't let you harm that child," a familiar voice stated coldly.
Camila looked to her right and saw Gwen descending on her staff. The elder Clawthorne dismounted and got between the cultist and Camila. Gwen looked back at Camila with a warm, near motherly smile.
"Are you okay, dearie?" the elder Clawthorne asked warmly.
Camila looked Gwen in the eyes, but before she could reply, the witch and human heard a sound. They looked back at the cultist and saw they had used a spell to blast the tile bats away from them. The cultist looked at the two, glaring at the elderly witch.
"Elder," the cultist said in a somewhat respectful tone. "This doesn't concern you. Leave the subject's side now or face the consequences."
Gwen scowled and glared as the cultist drew a spell circle. She didn't like how they talked about the child and took a protective stance, drawing a spell circle with each hand.
"I know what you are," Gwen said coldly, "But know this, I wouldn't back down because you're a wild witch."
The elder Clawthorne sent the spell circle she had made with her left hand out, and it glew. The circle pulsed, and two creatures emerged from it.
Camila's eyes were wide as she studied the demon realm creatures. The creatures made the human think of brown wolves, but they were twice as large, with more prominent snouts and fangs dripping with acid.
"You think a couple of Acid-fangs would scare me?" the cultist stated coldly, drawing over their previous circle with a new one.
Gwen didn't move, keeping her eyes on the cultist in a cold glare. "...You probably have more magic than I ever did in my prime," she said coldly. "But I still have something over you."
If the cultist was affected by the elder's words, they didn't show it. Instead, they aimed their spell circle at the Acid-Fangs. Suddenly, a tile bat came flying at the cultist, hitting them on the wrist of their spell arm.
The cultist grunted as they lost their spell circle, and two more tile bats hit them in the back of the knees, causing them to buckle. A final tile bat struck the cultist across the face, causing their mask and goggles to come off.
The witch weathered the pain from the repeated assault and glared at the elder witch with their seaform eyes. They tried to make another spell circle, but Gwen gave a command to the Acid-fangs. The beasts got close to the cultist, so close that the cultist could feel the acid of their fangs in the air.
The cultist wisely chose not to continue with their spell and instead continued to glare at the elder witch.
Gwen was a little surprised; the cultist was a female witch and just a kid, barely half the age of Eda. The elder witch also noticed a jagged scar running across the witch's forehead, one that had not been appropriately treated.
A small bit of pity rose in the elder Clawthorne as her face softened.
"Child," Gwen said softly, "I don't know why you're doing this, but you're hurting people who have done nothing to you-"
"NOTHING!" the cultist screamed indignantly. "That's why I'm doing this! I watched as my entire family were tried as wild witches by a greedy land monger, and no one they knew did NOTHING to help?"
Gwen was surprised by the anger in the young witch's eyes; the young one really believed her entire family had been wronged in a way that warranted her actions.
The elder witch's pity grew, and she even considered letting the witch go. Gwen then remembered Camila and looked at her. Her pity was replaced with anger as she saw the child trembling as she stared at the cultist fearfully.
The elder witch steeled herself as she looked back at the young witch. She drew a spell circle, and the Acid-Fang parted, allowing Gwen to walk up to the cultist.
"Child," Gwen stated, a hint of sympathy in her voice, "I can see your pain. But that didn't give you a reason to hurt others. I want to think about that."
Gwen made a spell circle and lightly pressed it against the cultist's forehead. The young witch's eyes rolled back into her head as the sleep spell took hold, and she hit the ground with a light moan.
Gwen stared at the young witch for a few seconds, then sighed. She looked at the beasts she "borrowed" from the Beast Keeper float and made them heel with a spell circle. She then turned her attention to Camila.
"Are you okay, dearie?" Gwen asked, a warm smile appearing on her face.
Camila looked uncertain at the elder witch, and Gwen's smile shrunk. She should have expected that, considering what happened during their first meeting. Still, Gwen was determined to make up for that past mistake.
"Listen, dearie," Gwen offered, trying to keep her tone light and warm, "This place isn't safe, and the cultists are still after you. So I will keep you safe until we can find my daughter."
Camila continued to stare at Gwen uncertainly. She debated going with the older witch when a shout caused her to jump. Gwen and her looked over the human's shoulder and saw a few cultists hurrying towards them, one of them speaking into a crow.
"Subject is on the rooftops! Repeat!"
Camila quickly ended her debate and looked at Gwen, nodding. The older witch returned the gesture and drew a spell circle. One of the Acid-Fang roared and charged the cultists. The beast kept the witches busy as Gwen gently grabbed Camila in a spell and lifted her onto the second Fang.
Once she knew the human child was on the beast, Gwen gave the Acid-Fang a command as she mounted her staff. She then led the beast in the direction she believed her daughter was, not bothering to look back as the sound of battle began.
(G Corer)
With this, Camila has all four Titan Glyphs. I'm not sure if she'll learn how to combine them. Also, if you're wondering, the person Eda saw before the cult attacked was indeed her mother.