Dedicated to Basil-Momma for showing Lycin some love. :D

Human version Kota by PaigeyLou

21.

Magick Release

Sianna scowled at Kota's words. There was nothing welcoming about waking up in another realm, surrounded by darkness and floating fairy corpses for light. She noticed the majority of them were gathered around the Rhokin. Several orbs floated around Deneck's arms while the fairies favored Calera's exposed leg. Reth's face appeared like a stained glass window from all the orbs hovering around his head. One, a light blue light, landed on his cheek and his eyes opened.

Reth sat up, scattering the revenants, and gazed around. His face was devoid of any astonishment. When he saw Sianna and the rest, he stood up.

"Had sweet dreams?" Kota asked him as he approached them.

Reth frowned at her. "I do not dream."

"No surprise there."

Sianna stared at Reth's bare chest. "Iari, where are our clothes? Supplies?"

He looked at her sheepishly. "It was 'ard movin' things."

"Moving?"

Iari scrunched up his face, setting his scars array across his skin. "I can' describe it any other way. The magick is what moved everythin', but I 'old it what to move. It was 'arder movin'...things than bodies." He gave Kota a look.

The Nayichi shrugged. "I gathered whatever food I could and put it in that bag. I also grabbed your own personal trunks. Iari needed them in the same room with him."

"You were sneaking in our rooms?" Sianna scowled.

Kota grinned. "You looked so adorable nuzzled up against Reth. Were you cold?"

Her frown deepened. "Keep your jokes to yourself, Nayichi."

Iari sighed. "Please stop fighting."

"We're not fighting. I need to find my sword first."

"Abou' that. It seems Armadura is really 'ard to move."

Sianna stared at the user. Aside from her mother's necklace, her armor and black bladed sword were the only possessions she cared about and actually feared losing. "What happened to my things?"

He looked away. "I was only able to move a few pieces."

"Which pieces?"

"The gauntlets."

"Only?"

Iari gave a hopeful smile. "I was able to move the swords."

Sianna's disappointment alleviated a bit. "Where are they?"

"Where is what?" Aldermeck said, appearing next to Sianna. She was in plain cotton clothes, robe gone.

"Meryl, we're in Ayodite." Iari smiled at her.

Her blue eyes followed a fairy that flew around Kota's shoulder. "I can see that." She focused on Sianna. "We need to wake everyone and gather our bearings. Where are our belongings?"

"That's what I was asking Iari just now," Sianna said.

Kota sighed and pointed behind her where the faint silhouettes of wooden trunks rested up against the deep darkness around them. "Your belongings are there. Now leave the poor boy alone. He was the one that insisted on bringing them for you. I thought it to be a waste of time."

Aldermeck gave Kota a stern look but went towards the piled trunks. Sianna was about to follow when she noticed Reth was gone. She turned around to see the Rhokin by the now awake and standing Deneck.

"How are you feeling?" Reth asked him.

Deneck smiled as he rubbed his mouth, fingers scratching across his dark stubble. "It's good to wake up on solid land."

Reth returned the smile, appearing thoughtful. "Does feeling ill offer that much discomfort?"

He gave a single chuckle. "It is worse than simple discomfort. It is a nightmare, so to speak. It is dreadful. Perhaps you will fall ill one of these days and see. Though I do not wish it on you."

"I'm sorry you had to feel like that. I don't like it that you felt like that."

Sianna pursed her lips at Reth's words before ordering him to find their trunks. She walked back to her blanket and picked it up, balling it as small as she could in her arms. She walked over to the sleeping Lycin and threw the fabric at his face.

His yelp was muffled, and in his surprise he kicked off most of his own blanket from his legs. Calera, awakened by his thrashing, pulled the material off of his head. Sianna saw Lycin's furious face peer up at her as she laughed.

"Wake up, Lycin," Sianna said.

He sat up and ran a hand through his wavy locks. Weariness and confusion replaced the usual slyness in his eyes as he looked around. A headless fairy with half a wing floated past his face, lighting up his nose and cheeks with its red glow.

"Where are we?" he asked.

Sianna crossed her arms. "Just get dressed. We'll tell you after you do. Might as well."

Lycin gave his surroundings one more bewildered look before turning towards Calera. "Find our things," he told her.

She nodded and stood up, the blanket sliding off her pale, nude body. She was thin, her bones protruding from her skin like horns. Her stomach was concave and the outline of her ribs was visible, more prominent from the bottom up. However, the rest of her appeared healthy, save for her sunken face. Calera's arms, legs, and breasts were meaty and plump.

Sianna furrowed her eyebrows. "You should cover yourself," she said, picking up the blanket she threw at Lycin and handing it to Calera.

The Rhokin ignored her.

Lycin reached over and grabbed Calera's wrist, jerking her down to her knees. He shook her. "Leitnant Rayoss gave you an order. You do not ignore it, stupid girl."

Calera blinked. "Yes, ser. I apologize."

"Apologize to your Leitnant."

Her dead silver eyes shifted to Sianna, chilling her more than the winged skeleton she had seen in her room.

"I apologize, Leitnant Rayoss," the Rhokin said. Her voice was emotionless but sounded beautiful nonetheless.

Sianna's mouth felt dry. "Just put it on," she said, tossing the blanket at Calera.

Sianna made her way to the trunks, seeing Aldermeck in a plain tunic that reached her knees with an Armadura sword by her side. Reth was in his usual blue uniform, but Deneck was in a plain doublet. It was Kota's attire, however, that had drastically changed.

Her simple white and green dress seemed to have been torn and rearranged on her body. White ribbons wrapped around her breasts like gauze, a tight bow underneath them keeping it together. She wore what appeared to be a lengthened loincloth, a makeshift belt of fabric keeping it around her waist. The exposed jewels on her skin shone like iridescent stars under the light from the dead fairies floating around her body.

"That was our compromise," Aldermeck said, noting Sianna's odd stare on the Nayichi.

"Compromise?" she asked.

"She said clothes feel too constricting, but I would not stand to see her naked for as long as we are to be here."

Sianna watched as Iari and Kota conversed with unheard words. She noticed the floating revenants were in abundance around the user as well. Some were perched on his shoulder and hair, more hovering by his arms and back. Though he seemed to attract more of them than anyone, he didn't seem bothered by them.

"Sianna," Aldermeck said, breaking her thoughts, "you should get dressed and armed."

"Yes," she answered.

Once everyone was in fresh clothes, they gathered around Iari and Kota, a bonfire of colors bathing all their faces.

"Well is anyone going to tell me what is happening? You are all too calm for me to believe this wasn't planned," Lycin asked. He crossed his arms, pulling the strings on his sleeveless doublet. There also was an Armadura sword strapped to his belt.

Silence hung for a minute before Aldermeck spoke. "Well, Sianna, are you going to explain or shall I?"

Sianna was about to allow Aldermeck to explain their situation—feeling she owed none to Lycin, not wishing for him to even be there—when she realized she didn't know what Aldermeck would say. She didn't want Lycin to know certain things, especially that Kota had marked her, even if that was not important now.

She faced Lycin who smirked when their eyes met. She kept her face still. "You were right, Lycin. What we were doing was too odd to be orders from the Guard itself. It is because we are here on the king's orders.

"He told us we had to retrieve an item for the benefit of our kingdom, and it could only be found here. I was chosen because of Reth. His budding magick was noticed and wanted for this mission. Secretly, a Nayichi was assigned to me as our guide, and Iari, now a user for the Guard, was needed to open the gate to arrive here."

Sianna watched as his lips curled into a knowing smile, as if he had a secret of his own. "And what of the Leitnant and her disguises?"

"That I can answer for you," Aldermeck said. "It has nothing to do with Sianna's orders. I acted on my own."

Lycin's grin grew. "I was waiting for you to admit it. I had heard word of Leitnant Meryl Aldermeck's death and the disappearance of her Rhokin. When I saw her reunited with Sianna, I believed there to be foul play."

Sianna eyed him. Did he believe her lie?

"It is known that the Guard is given quests from the throne from time to time," Lycin said. "Or from the wizard."

Sianna's eyes narrowed. "You bastard. You were playing with us, enjoying us squirm as you watched from your corner."

He met her stare. "So it was the wizard. Well now it's just a matter of figuring out why he sent you out on this little journey."

She was awestruck, staring at Lycin with her mouth slightly open. He had tricked her. Her fingers twitched in ache to grab her sword. Instead she stepped up to him.

"You do look best with your mouth open like that," Lycin said, his finger tracing her lips.

Sianna slapped his hand away. "What the fuck do you want, Lycin? Why were you following us to begin with?" She spat on his cheek as she spoke.

"Just how you have secrets of your own, Sianna, as do I."

"I am ordering you to—"

"A Leitnant cannot order another Leitnant."

She felt the color drain from her face. "You're a Leitnant?"

"When did this happen?" Aldermeck asked,

"A few weeks after you left," he answered but kept his gaze on Sianna.

She wanted to cut the smile off his face. "I am in command here!" She turned around to face the rest of the group. "You will all follow my orders. Everyone."

She scanned their faces. Kota appeared bored, but Iari nodded when her eyes met his. Reth and Calera—wearing a Leitnant cloak with her uniform, Sianna noted—both shared the same stoic face while the smile on Deneck's lips was a smaller version of Aldermeck's wide grin.

Fuck. Taking command was the last thing I wanted to do.

Sianna walked away from Lycin, eager to be off. "Iari, you are the one that brought us here. Do you have any idea where this Eye of Artemis might be?" She bit her tongue. In her anger, she had given Lycin another piece of their puzzle for him to figure out, but it didn't matter. It was one that was bound to be discovered anyway.

Iari took off the necklace Vulharis gave him. The grey stone that hung from it was wrapped with back strings. He held it between his fingers and pressed. The stone crumbled, leaving behind limp strings. Grey powder swirled above the ground as if caught in an undying wind.

Trapped within Iari's outstretched arms, the dust accumulated mass until it seemed to have come from a ground boulder instead of a small rock. He brought his arms down and the residue fell to the ground. When Iari's palms went up, the powder began to weave through the fur like grey lines of thread through fabric.

Sianna squinted at the grey sand, unable to decipher its message. When it settled, two symbols rested on the ground. One was made up of jagged lines that overlapped each other and created sharp angled shapes. Encasing it all was a giant circle with lines coming out of it likes rays on a sun. The other symbol held softer lines that curled like ribbons, creating vine–like pictures. The circle around that symbol was plain.  

"The eye is there, but I don' know what it means," Iari said.

"Kota?" Aldermeck asked like giving an order.

The Nayichi was staring at the symbols, a look of confusion and disbelief crossing her feline features. "Are you sure this is where it is at, Iari?"

He shrugged. "It's the message 'eld in the stone. I'm just releasin' it."

"I know where it is located," Kota said, and walked away from the gathering, the strips of green cloth between her legs flapping with her quick steps.

"Then tell us." Sianna called after her.

Kota turned to them. "It is the name of two shrines. When placed together like that, it is the name of the place where they reside. Shadow of the Dark Ones and The Walls of Light, together at Lovox's Prayer."

"Lovox's Prayer. That's where we're going to find this eye?" Lycin asked.

Kota's chuckle was halfhearted. "It seems so, but we must leave The Fresh Corpse first."

"Is that the name of where we are?" Aldermeck asked.

This time Kota's smile reflected her amusement. "Yes, as I told Sianna and Iari, we are walking on a corpse, not land."

Aldermeck's nose scrunched up.

"How delightful," Deneck said, kicking the ground.

"We have to find the Lich King. He is the only one that can release us from here," Kota said.

"So it is then," Sianna said. "Pack what you can carry on your backs. Trunks will not be carried and hurry so we can set off."

"Yes, Leitnant." Lycin smirked.

Sianna ignored him and went to her own trunk where she packed clothes and food into her linen bag. She rolled the blanket she had thrown at Lycin and tied the two bundles together. Sianna saw Reth next to her had a multitude of blue uniforms and was packing only those, leaving his formal tunics behind.

"Reth," she said to him, "you can pack other clothes besides that. We're not in Dracarr. No one will hold it against you if you don't wear your uniform. Look at Deneck."

He stopped. "Do you wish for me to change my attire, ser?"

She sighed. Not these questions again. "Only if you want to, Reth. Pack what you want."

He looked at his clothes, gloved fingers rubbing the uniform in his hand. "I would rather like to know how it would feel to wear...other things," he said, seeming more to himself than Sianna.

She grinned, pleased with his answer. "Don't forget to pack a sleeping roll."

"Yes, ser," he said, usual indifference back on his face.

"Sianna, we are ready," Aldermeck told her.

Sianna swung her sack over her back and stared at her almost empty trunk. She had said she was in charge, but in reality she had no idea where to start. Ayodite was another world, unfamiliar and strange. It was impossible to lead in a place where humans had hardly ever set foot. A stiff smile appeared on lips over her own foolishness.

"Need help, Sianna? You are a bit too quiet standing there. Would you rather I showed us the way?" Kota said as she stepped up to her.

Sianna welcomed the change of power but still eyed the Nayichi with distrust. "Do you even know where we should go?"

"No," she said, surprising Sianna. "I have never been here, but I recognize the signs that will tell us we are going the correct way."

"How can you know that if you've never been here?"

Kota only smiled as she took point and kept walking. Sianna stared at her root–like hair that seemed to sprout from Kota's spine before following the Nayichi. Everyone else mimicked her.

The walk was silent, hisses from the accompanying fairy revenants the only noises heard. The fur under their feet was soft, their feet gliding on it without a sound, something that fascinated Sianna, considering that they were walking on a decaying creature. There was even a bounce in her step from walking on the flesh underneath the fur.

After some time, the golden brown fur beneath their feet began to grow and lighten to a dancing red, like the igniting of flames. The darkness that surrounded them began to lift like a thinning fog, revealing vague shadows that danced in the air like clothes caught in the wind. As the blackness left, so did the dead fairies. Only a handful lingered, most of them on Reth, and one on Deneck and Calera.

Sianna narrowed her eyes as she watched the colorful orbs float around the Rhokin. "Why do those dead things like Rhokin so much?"

"Even in death they are still searching for food," Kota said over her shoulder.

"Fairies are mostly found in Fenris, ser. They are hardly seen in the northern island of Dracarr. They eat magick from any magickal creatures though they do not necessarily steal it or make whoever or whatever they are feeding of weaker. It is more like they bathe in it," Reth said, surprising Sianna at how he entered the conversation.

"An' they can make you look suspicious if they're always on you. That's why I moved to Dracarr's northern island. It wasn' easy havin' those fairies aroun' me all the time," Iari added with a sigh.

Aldermeck chuckled. "Three on Reth and only one on you? You are getting weak in your old age, Deneck."

The dark haired Rhokin frowned. "Nonsense, ser. That means nothing."

"Deneck is more seasoned and wise, Ser Aldermeck. I would not consider myself better than him," Reth said.

Sianna was again astonished by the conversing Reth.

Aldermeck laughed. "Deneck? Wise?"

"That is not nice of you to say," Deneck said and crossed his arms, but a small smile played on his lips.

"I can say what I want after all the puke I cleaned off of you."

The face Deneck gave Aldermeck had Sianna half expecting him to stick his tongue out at her. Sianna hid a smile behind her hand, amused at their sibling–like argument. It was almost nice to see this different, unofficial side of the people who were once her superiors.

A howl tore through the conversation. It was shrill and lengthy, vibrating Sianna's bones. Another followed, a low moan that rose in pitch until it surpassed the first in sound. More cries were heard, one rising after the other, piercing shrieks that felt like they could rip through skin.

The shadows that had floated around them were growing in number, tides of swirling darkness rushing to engulf any remaining light. The tendrils of black slithered out and reached at the Rhokin. They chased away the fairy corpses, allowing a deep darkness to settle among Sianna and the rest.

She tensed. The blackness was heavy and suffocating, gripping her like a giant, clawed hand. Sianna could feel it creep over her sweating skin, squeeze through her lips and nose, and crawl down her throat to lodge in her lungs like thick water. She opened her mouth as if to spit out the vile, dark liquid, but instead she choked, tasting her fear. Her hands gripped around her sword, trying to draw it, but her fingers fumbled and trembled.

A yellow spark appeared. Another. A pair of golden eyes stared at Sianna until she realized they were coming out of the eye sockets of a skull. Decaying lips opened and another ray of yellow light emerged, accompanied by a scream. More golden faces appeared, and the lengthy howls began anew.

Despite the deafening wails and haunting eyes, Sianna welcomed the light that pushed the darkness away. She gasped in air, each breath fortifying her. Her new clarity brought her a feel of self–loathing at allowing herself to panic over something as stupid as the dark. Even if this darkness had been enclosing and suffocating. 

A white light parted the black skies. Sianna heard Iari's gasp as the creatures before them were revealed. They were floating entities, identical with their long, iridescent hair that swirled behind their rotting heads. One of them floated up to Iari, and Sianna saw the feminine shape of her body: an unbelievably thin waist sprouted from hip bones that protruded through its skirt.

The lone creature hovered from Iari to Kota and to each member of the group, scrutinizing. When it floated by Sianna, she noticed what she thought were folds in its skirt was actually a yawning skull or a clawing arm or a rippling ribcage. The waves of the fabric were animated by the moving bones that seemed to be forever climbing up to an unknown destination they would never reach.

"He knows we are here," Kota said. Her voice sounded like a whisper after hearing the screams from before.

"He?" Aldermeck asked.

"Zerahdin."

Sianna was about to ask how, but Deneck answered it.

"Banshees," he said. "Messengers of death. I take it in this world it's literal." He smiled. The shadows on his face made it look sinister.

The banshees hovered around them, their howls silenced, but their mouths remained opened, golden rays spilling out like a lantern. It was odd how something so warm and bright illuminated from something so grotesque.

"Does tha' mean he'll come to us? He knows we're 'ere," Iari said as one of the banshees drifted by his side. He took a step away from it, eyeing it with hesitation.

Kota laughed. "Zerahdin? No, he does not go to anyone. He will have his corpse filter us out."

Sianna looked up to the white ray of light that shown on them like a sun. Its origin was impossible to see. "And this? Is it from him too?"

The Nayichi narrowed her eyes at the light. It wasn't till the white glow dulled to a grey, like fog falling from the sky, that a hiss–like sound escaped her. "Move out of the circle of light!" She leapt out. 

Sianna hesitated for a moment, her eyes landing on the engulfing darkness that lay beyond the yellow luminosities that came from the floating banshees. That had been long enough.

The floor beneath her splintered open with the undeniable sound of flesh tearing apart as tremors rocked the spongy land. Red–black goop oozed out of the wound, flattening the fur into wet clumps and latching onto Sianna's boots. She was trapped.

"Calera!" Lycin's voice broke through the grumbling vibrations.

Sianna felt what was like a thick rope wrap around her waist. It pulled her away from the blistering, bleeding flesh before it erupted into an explosion of gore. Chunks of lumpy blood splattered on Sianna's face even as she was being whisked away. Whatever pulled her settled her next to Lycin who gave her a small grin.

That gesture made her realize who her savior was. She looked down to see an arm around her waist. The opaque limb was long, curling in the air. Four other arms, like climbing, swaying branches, emerged from Calera's back.

"Ser!" Reth came up to her. An odd look overcame his features. It appeared like shame, but Sianna had no time to think about it.

Shooting out from the meaty opening before them was a giant worm. Its back was littered with scales of silver barbs, like armor. Clumps of blackened meat and dead blood hung on them like spiked heads. Glowing through the gore were lines of radiant blue that outlined each scale. The worm opened its oval head—spears emerging from it like whiskers—and bellowed a screech that put the banshees' wails to shame. A softer symphony of shrieks thundered from below the worm as the banshees themselves scattered away from it and into the darkness of The Fresh Corpse.

Without the banshees, the warm golden light vanished as well. The worm thrashed under its created beacon of light like it was in pain, appearing unconcerned with the Nayichi or the group of Rhokin and humans within the vicinity.    

"What do we do?" Iari whispered.

Even though she was far from it, Sianna saw the worm turn towards them. Its mouth opened, revealing needles of teeth like bars across its mouth. It shot towards them, its armored body long enough to reach them without fully emerging from its hole. It rose, a heightened tower of silver, and the blue around its scales glowed, the lines rushing up to its mouth likes rivers filling a sea.

"Scatter!" Kota's warning came too late.

A sapphire beam volleyed from the worm's mouth, its needle teeth shooting out as projectiles within the stream.

A giant wall of fire rose from the ground. 

Sianna could feel the blaze on her skin, warming the gauntlets around her hands. Soon, it became unbearable. She and the others fled from the heat that kept climbing. She turned back to see Iari with his hands up, unfazed by the temperature, commanding the flames to protect them. The azure beam hit the fire, spraying out like splattered paint. The projectiles melted upon contact.

Iari's arms came together as if hugging the air. The inferno rushed forward like a tide of water and wrapped around the worm. The red–orange flames turned blue, melting the scales and spikes on the worm. They dripped down to the ground as heavy, silver drops. The spines on its face dribbled down over its mouth, sealing its cries shut.

The worm fought. It slithered across the ground towards Iari in slow strokes. He took a step forward and the flames turned white. The worm stopped, falling to the ground where it blackened and shrunk into half its size. The light above it dispersed as the worm died. 

Iari fell to his knees and his chest heaved with his deep breaths. Sianna frowned. It was feats like those that made it hard for her to believe Iari's claims that he didn't know he had such power.

That was when she noticed she could see. There was light still coming from somewhere. She looked up. Several more beacons fell from the sky, summoning more scaled worms to emerge from dead blood and flesh. Before Sianna could even comprehend the magnitude of their situation, Aldermeck was yelling orders.

"Draw only one to you at a time! Use the worm's own giant body as a shield from the others. Do not try to flank them! They are too big!" She partnered with Deneck and drew her sword.

The worms were too fast. They had gathered in front of them, a wide, towering wall of scales and spikes. Ten fang bearing mouths sneered at them.

Sianna drew her sword, but she knew it might as well have been a stick when up against the monstrosities of steel and fangs in front of her. Reth seemed to have the same idea. 

"Ser, leave it to us," he said before dashing away from her side. He met up with the speeding Deneck while Calera drifted away on her own.

"Sianna!" Aldermeck pulled her arm.

A handful of one on of the flesh worm's teeth impaled the ground where she had been standing. Green slobber oozed down and flatten the copper fur. Sianna and Aldermeck ran as more fangs rained from the ground. Ahead of them, Lycin was sprinting with a limp Iari hoisted over his shoulder. Kota was nowhere to be seen.

Sianna searched for her, enraged at her disappearance, but she only saw a scaled worm charging at them, mouth open. Through the silver scales, Sianna saw looked like a giant red veil wrapped around its head. The red disappeared only to reappear again, and that was when she realized it was the creature's eyes. The worm lifted its head, ready to swallow the running humans below it.

A crash was heard as its head was flattened to the ground. Dead, red blood mixed with the worms' watery black blood sprouted into the air as its fangs broke into the fleshy land. A giant, opaque hand keep it impaled to the ground. Thin, long fingers squeezed around what could be a neck, the spikes going through the giant palm not hindering the strength the hand seemed to possess.

The massive hand continued to squeeze, fingers below the head meeting closer and closer together. The worm was beheaded with the yawning sound of metal breaking and the disgusting clamor of a squishy snap. Black blood erupted like a tide of water breaking through a wall. It gushed out in thick waves that did not stain the massive hand that threw the head in its grasp away into darkness.

Hovering over the dead worm was Calera, suspended in the air—like a descending, bloody Saint—by one of her elongated arms. Her face was solemn and her body still as she stared straight ahead at nothing instead of her task at hand. 

An array of out–of–sync cries was heard as a pair of worms dashed at Calera from behind. Her indifferent gaze unfazed, four long, smoky arms sprouted from Calera's back like wings. They dashed at the worms and grabbed hold of each with a pair of arms, easily holding the creatures down to the ground.

Her knobby, colossal fingers grabbed hold of the worms' mouths. She forced opened the jaws, multiple fangs layering out like giant metal fans. This time the kills were faster as Calera tore their heads in half. Broken, bloody scales shot across the air through ropes of stringy, pink flesh on a background of dark ink.

Sianna stared at the three corpses, the magnitude of Calera's magick sinking into her bones. She recalled the time Calera had choked her the day Reth first arrived. Her hand came up to her throat, armor cold against her skin. Sianna didn't remember seeing Calera's hand that day. She gave Lycin a glance and was confused to find his face also held unbelievable surprise.

Calera sprinted away from them, using her extra, lengthened arms as legs, to where Reth and Deneck had lead the remaining worms away from Sianna and the rest. The creatures had surrounded Deneck and Reth.

The pair of Rhokin were on the ground, dodging the fangs that snapped at them. There was an array of yellow platforms in the air the Rhokin would occasionally utilize to help them avoid the enclosing jaws that chased them. As Deneck and Reth continued their leaps, Reth's platforms disappearing only to reappear elsewhere, Sianna realized they were luring the worms closer together. It wasn't until their heads were bumping one another that she realized what they were going to do.

"Now!" Deneck looked at Reth.

The blond Rhokin nodded and a ladder of yellow platforms appeared before him. He ascended like a blue arrow, climbing out of the pit of teeth and spikes. An open worm mouth chased him. Reth continued his rise, the flesh worm's speed only allowing him to go up. He faltered for a moment, and it seemed like the worm would close its jaws on Reth.

The golden oval below his feet exploded with a flash of bright light.

Golden, jagged strings shot down from the heavens. They wove together to create a bolt as thick as a tree trunk. It shot down the worm's open mouth, tearing open its jaw. There was a pause before the worm's body exploded into meaty gore.

Sianna saw threads of crackling electricity interlace with strings of black blood like thousands of ribbons floating in the sky. A violent, prickly surge went through her body, and although it did not hurt, she felt its static touch set her hair on edge.

She saw the carnage and blood fall over the other worms...and over Deneck.

"Everyone move!" Aldermeck pulled on Sianna's arm again.

Sianna was lifted off the ground, Calera's opaque arm encircling her in a familiar grip. She saw the Rhokin had grabbed everybody else, Reth and Kota included, and was racing away from Deneck with her arm–legs. Sianna wondered where Kota came from, but the sound of an explosion caught her attention. 

The pull was incredible.

Sianna felt like her clothes and skin would be ripped from her flesh. Her scalp burned, feeling each root of her hair being pulled from her head. Even her breath left her. She saw another arm shoot from Calera's back, the hand growing dozens of times it original size to dig into the flesh and fur on the ground, an anchor from Deneck's pull. Sianna felt the female Rhokin grip her tighter. She and everyone else in Calera's grasp thrashed in the air like caught under a waterfall's current.

The pull stopped, and Sianna blinked. Though Calera had placed a significant amount of distance between them and the battle scene, Sianna could still see the crater. Most of the flesh worm bodies gone, others cut in half, hugging the edge of the smooth hole.

"Where is that light coming from?" Aldermeck said.

Sianna's chest tightened. More worms?

Then she saw what Aldermeck meant. There was a vast dimness that went on into the horizon. It felt like the line between evening and nightfall, but no source for the glow could be seen.

"Calera," Lycin said, "take us to Deneck."

When they reached the edge of the hole, Calera placed everyone down, her extra limbs disappearing into her back. Deneck was sitting in the middle of the fleshy cavern that seeped burgundy blood like molasses. He smiled up at them.

"Deneck? Are you alright?" Aldermeck called down to him.

He stood up. "I am, ser."

"Then get out of that hole. It seems we have to talk about what just happened."

That was when Sianna remembered. She looked for Kota and found the Nayichi looking at the horizon. She was sitting by Iari's unconscious body. The boy's state made Sianna pause, but it did not stop her.

"Where were you?" Sianna sneered as she came up to Kota.

Kota faced her with confusion.

"During the battle. You weren't there. I saw Aldermeck, Iari, and even Lycin while the Rhokin battled those things, but you weren't seen anywhere. Where did you go?"

Kota's arms went down by her side, one hand falling on Iari's forehead. "I was there, Sianna. I did not leave anywhere."

"Sianna," Lycin said, "the Nayichi was there. She was the one that helped me carry Iari out of harm's way."

Sianna glared at him. Lycin's word was not one she trusted, much less when it was in favor for Kota, but when Aldermeck said she too had seen the Nayichi with them, Sianna took pause.

"Reth." The voice that spoke was soft and beautiful, holding love and concern for who it was addressed.

Sianna turned around to see Calera kneeling next to Reth who was on his hands and knees. His head was between his shaking shoulder blades, a dribble of red blood dripping from his lips to the small pool on the ground.

The pain seal.

Sianna walked to Reth's side and went down on one knee. She placed a hand on his back only to retrieve it when she realized what she had done. "Reth?" Her voice was flat and raspy compared to how Calera had said his name.

The Rhokin looked at her. "Are you alright, ser?" he asked through bloody teeth.

She almost laughed. "I'm not the one spitting blood. Rest if you have to."

He nodded, straightening his posture to sit on the ground.

Sianna stood up, stealing a glance at Calera. She was looking at Reth with concern in her eyes. That was the first time Sianna had seen a hint of anything within the Rhokin's gaze. Sianna grinned, amused by Calera's obvious feelings. She wondered if Lycin knew.

Despite the fact that a battle had taken place where they were standing, Aldermeck suggested they rest where they were. Iari was unconscious and all three Rhokin appeared like they wanted to collapse.

"So it seems magick is amplified in Ayodite?" Aldermeck said.

"I've never seen Calera do what she did. I've never seen actual arms emerge from her. And her strength..." Lycin stared at his Rhokin that hadn't torn her sights from Reth. He scoffed as if what he saw was idiotic to him.

Sianna wasn't sure of the extent of Reth's still budding magick, but she was certain she had never seen him summon a lightning bolt out of thin air.

"Yes, here the Rhokin's power is magnified. I see it as a rather fortunate thing," Kota said as she smoothed Iari's hair. She had placed his head on her lap.

"Even Iari's?" Sianna asked as she saw the Nayichi's tender touch on the boy.

"No. That was Iari's own power."

The enormous wall of fire he had summoned during the fight was a clear image in Sianna's mind. She stared at his scarred, sleeping face as the events from a few days ago passed through her mind: a wizard's plea, a cursed prince, a necromancer's evil, a speaking skeleton, a gateway to another world, and a mess of corpse and worm blood on her.

Sianna scowled.

I'm starting to fucking hate magick.