A Spark in the Shadow

-19HP

-5HP

John sailed through the air and crashed into a tree. Disoriented, John struggled to return to his feet, the sounds of the increasingly chaotic battle oddly distant. He braced himself on the tree to steady his feet, the bark crumbling under his touch. He looked back at the tree, finding its bark turning to ash before his eyes, its leaves withering away above him. The roar of flames cut through John’s mental haze and he wrenched his attention back to the devolving fight.

The exploded tree monster had grown more tentacles, these far thinner than the one that had hit him, and they flailed about wildly, lashing out more at the dying trees than scoring any hits on its attackers. Mason’s firestorm and Cammie’s animal spirits kept up their attacks, but the monster’s regeneration easily overcame their damage.

‘It’s going to drain the whole forest,’ John thought, his gut dropping like a stone as he watched Cammie’s vulture tear a chunk out of one of the life **** draining tendrils, only for it to heal, wisps of purple energy streaming from the wound until it was whole.

That image struck a chord, drawing John back to the ambush back at school and the Vine Hounds.

‘That hound had the same effect when it was regening,’ his thoughts raced. ‘Since I could Hex that away, I should be able to at least weaken this thing’s regeneration.’

Taking a deep breath, John shouted, “I’m going to try to weaken its regen! Be ready to hit it hard!”

John summoned the last mana potion he had and downed the contents, restoring his mana to sixty-two.

‘Okay, Hex costs nineteen, same with Fiery Pursuit,’ he quickly calculated. ‘That’ll still leave me with enough mana to fire off a second attack or reapply Hex if it’s needed.’

John surged into range, conjuring the fireball before casting Hex at the tree, the wisps of purple energy fading from its still unhealed wounds.

Target’s regeneration effect negated for 31 seconds

“Attack!” John screamed, letting his fireball fly at the now **** monster. His attack crashed into the tentacle that had struck him, blasting a good chunk out of it. A harsh cry erupted from the trees and the ragtag bunch of goblins rushed out, swords and spears quick to hack and stab at the flailing tendrils and sedentary body of the tree. Cammie’s spirits danced around the goblins, claws, fangs, talons and beak tearing into flesh and bark, sending splashes of blood and sap into the air.

Mason’s firestorm kept swirling around, now focused on the two embedded tendrils, burning them in an attempt to prevent it from feasting on the forest. With a green flash, Aeolia flew in close and darted around the smaller tentacles, easily cutting through them.

John waited until he saw purple energy start to well up from one of the many wounds before recasting Hex, confident the ongoing **** would benefit more from an extra half minute of prevented regeneration than another fireball or shard. The sound of footfalls behind him turned his attention to Vivian and Teri as they moved closer to him.

“Can you keep it from recovering?” Teri asked, having to yell to be heard over the din of battle and the chorus of wounded cries from the tree.

“I’ve got enough overall mana to do it one more time,” John answered, calling Senka into his hand, the usual feeling of the spirit clinging to him gone in a second. “Hopefully that’ll be enough. Actually, I should get ready to recast.”

John focused back on the tree, its body now covered in gaping wounds and burns. He watched for the telltale wisps of the regenerative magic as his last Hex wore off. When none appeared he wondered if Mason’s attack had rendered it unable to sap the normal trees for sustenance.

“Looks like we might have broken its ability to feed,” John said, his lips stretching into a cocky smile. “A little more and we should have it beat.”

A second later, one of the trees behind him let out a harsh crack and a fleshy tendril tipped with a thorn shot out from the decayed husk, stabbing right into John’s back

-3HP

John let out a pained noise as he was **** forward by the impact, saved from getting skewered by the resistance of his coat and chestpiece. John **** himself onto his back in time to see the tendril that attacked him was now striking at Vivian and Teri, the goblin shaman fending it off with a bone knife while Vivian fluctuated the light around it, trying to disrupt its aim. The snake-like tentacle managed to slip past Teri’s blade and lashed out, driving itself into her shoulder.

As Teri bit back a pained scream, John tried to use Fiery Pursuit, only to find his mana too low.

‘Right, that’s why I pulled out Senka,’ John frantically thought. ‘I don’t know what dark mana will do to Pursuit, but I don’t have time to worry.’

John drew in all eighteen of Senka’s stored mana, the cool sensation filling him before he sent all of it and one of his natural mana into the glove, triggering the Evocation. Unlike with the standard Evocation or its fire mana version, this didn’t spawn a fireball in his hand, instead a spark of dark fire appeared on the tendril for a second before flaring into an inward spiraling vortex.

The tentacle writhed in pain, dislodging itself from Teri as it flailed around. As Vivian helped the wounded goblin away, John brought his attention back to the battle. Every tree that had been afflicted by the abomination’s lifedrain had sprouted at least one tendril and those new appendages were relentless as they attacked everyone. Mason, Cammie and Aeolia handled their assailants easily enough, the two spirit users able to play the numbers game and Aeolia able to fly circles around them in her base size.

The goblins, however, were at a much greater disadvantage and several of their number had already been stabbed or ensnared.

‘Shit,’ John cursed, his eyes darting all over the battlefield as things started to fall apart. The abomination tree remained mostly motionless, its various wounds still bleeding. ‘It’s not healing, but everyone is stuck dealing with the tree tendrils. Mason’s firestorm could take it out. I need to get the pressure off him so he can focus on it!’

John darted towards the large cook, keeping Senka in hand, reasoning he needed speed to deal with any intercepting tendrils and in a last ditch effort could fire off a Shadow Snare for a second. With a quick sweep of his hand, he sliced through an approaching tentacle, getting a splash of blood to the face. A wave of coolness washed over him and he suddenly knew a tendril was coming to attack from behind.

John spun and cut off the tentacle’s thorny tip before continuing towards Mason, his thoughts too focused on ending this nightmare to dwell on what that burst of extra awareness meant, though he had his guess. More tendrils twisted towards him and John evaded or cut them as they swarmed him.

Despite his agility, the multi-vector **** soon proved too much for him to dodge and several tentacles tried to stab him.

-9HP

Three thorns struck him, unable to puncture coat and armor but more than enough to upset his footing and arrest his momentum, giving the tendrils the opportunity to bind his left arm and right leg, lifting him into the air. Panic shot through John as he tried to fight his way free before the tentacles struck at his extremely **** face.

Desperately, John cast Shadow Snare with his last five mana, the thorny vines of dark magic digging into one of the fleshly tendrils, drawing blood from it before the Evocaction faded as his mana hit zero. Mana less, suspended and with his allies occupied, John flailed as best he could, unable to reach where they had wrapped around his wrist and ankles.

Then, John felt a womanly figure press against his back, large breasts squishing into his shoulders. Slender arms wrapped around his chest, holding him in an intimate embrace. The sensation of a sighed breath ghosted over his left ear and John twisted his head just in time to catch a fleeting glance of purple hair styled like curled pigtails.

‘Looks like you’re in a rough spot,’ a soft feminine voice rang through his mind. ‘This is as much as I can muster. Don’t waste your shot. And don’t wait too long for us to truly meet.’

Senka’s physical presence vanished from around him and a wave of dark mana flowed into him, alongside a sudden and fleeting spike of exhaustion. John quickly took hold of the godsend and funneled it into his glove, casting Fiery Pursuit for hopefully the final time in this Barrier.

The dark mana influenced Evocation flared to life within the blown out stump of the abomination tree, bits of flesh and wood drawn into the fiery vortex. The tree’s remaining mouths let out a twisted chorus of pain as the black flames spread, growing larger than the one still burning on the tendril that had first attacked him.

The tentacles that held him writhed in pain, as did all the others, turning the tide of battle. John tugged at his restraints, hoping to break free when he saw a flash of green rocketing towards him. Aeolia reached him in an instant, easily severing the three tendrils that bound him, dropping him the short distance to the ground.

“You ok?” she asked, eyes drifting to a point above his head. “That last attack tapped you out.”

“Yeah,” John sighed, looking down at Senka before putting his thoughts on the spirit’s assistance on hold and pulling up Fiery Pursuit’s dark mana modification info.

Dark: Set alight a target within (EvoLv*3) meters with dark flame for (Wis/2) minutes. This spiraling flame deals damage to the target’s health and mana, disrupting active effects.

“I’m burning up its mana,” John reported. “That’s why it’s extra tentacles have gone all twitchy. It’s running out of mana to control them. We need to hit it hard before Pursuit runs out and it can use them more effectively.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Aeolia said, flying higher. “I’ll let Mason and Cammie know and get to chopping!”

She darted off and John turned to face the burning mass of twisted flesh and wood. He swapped Senka for his greatsword, eliciting a pulse of minor disappointment from the knife.

‘When we get out of this,’ John promised to the weapon spirit, before sprinting towards the monster. It saw his approach with many of its eyes and lurched its free tentacle at him. It was far slower than the last time it had attacked and John was able to twist out of the way, delivering a chop to the massive tube of melded flesh and wood. His strike cut a deep gash and the tentacle sprayed blood as more cries of pain were ripped from the mouths on it.

Lights began to flash around the battlefield and John caught sight of Vivian at the edge of the trees, hands splayed out as she worked to blind the many eyes of the monster.

“John! Back away and get down!” Mason shouted as he rushed closer, a wave of spirit born fire behind him. John took his orders to heart and backpedaled before diving to the ground right as Mason let his fire free.

As the flame wave blazed towards the abomination, Cammie’s vulture flew in from the other side and rounded behind the wounded tree. Mason’s spirits crashed their firestorm into the tree, the traditional red, yellow and orange flames blotting out sight of John’s Evocation born one. Atra the vulture then began to circle the blazing monstrosity, whipping the flames into a tornado of enhanced intensity.

John watched as the tree writhed in pain, its screams drowned out by the roar of the flames. It tried to strike at Atra with its remaining limbs but couldn’t hit the swift moving vulture spirit, some of those limbs snapping off due to the accumulated damage they’d taken. Then, its movements, from its few burning limbs to the tentacles sprouted from the drained trees, stopped. The tentacles then just broke apart into sickening piles of liquid flesh and rotting wood. The main body stood for a moment longer, then collapsed in on itself.

500(26) EXP Gained
Level Up!
Five Skill Points Gained

The spirit born flame tornado abated, the source of the blaze fading as they returned to their respective masters. Then, the goblins let out a cheer that needed no translation. John relaxed, splaying out across the ground, and let his Arcane Sense feel the area. The sense of wrongness still lingered, but John pushed beyond it, letting the idyllic feel of the Barrier soothe away some of his fatigue.

A gust of warm wind and a ray of bright sunshine colored his perception; John cracked open an eye as Aeolia and Vivian approached and **** himself to his feet. Vivian quickly pulled him into a hug, nearly knocking the air from his lungs. Aeolia grew herself to full height and joined the hug, stretching her arms around the two.

“How about we just chill for the rest of the day?” she asked with a tired voice.

John let out a small chuckle. “Sounds good to me.”

The trio maintained their hold on each other for a few seconds longer then broke apart and moved to join Mason and Cammie, the pair likewise in a romantic embrace, though theirs involved a fair amount of tongue.

“What a nice backdrop for a romantic moment,” Aeolia remarked from her perch on John’s shoulder. “Maybe we should share a kiss right next to a burning pile of evil tree.”

“You take your victories when you can get them,” Cammie shot back with a saucy smile. “We’re alive, so we’re going to celebrate a little. Well, a little now. More later.”

Before Aeolia could fire off her own retort, a mournful cry stole the words from her mouth. All five of them turned to where the goblins had gathered. Their number was eleven, ten warriors, now unhelmeted, and Teri, and all of them had their heads thrown back as they let their despair over their fallen comrades.

“Should...” Vivian began as the goblins continued their mourning, “we say something? Offer condolences or…?”

“Let them grieve on their own terms,” Mason advised. “We have no way of knowing their cultural norms or rituals. I’d hate to disrespect the warriors that we fought alongside with by ruining some funerary ritual. We can wait for Teri to come talk to us.”

The four humans and avenfae lapsed into a respectful silence. John listened to their cry, making out an odd rhythm to it, not unlike a chant. It continued for a few minutes then abruptly ended. John and the others watched as Teri said something to her remaining men, her voice too low to hear. Then she marched over to them, purpose in her stride. As she neared, John noticed her shoulder was wrapped in a cloth bandage and a small pang of guilt welled up.

“Don’t worry about this,” Teri said, gesturing to her dressed wound. “Just a flesh wound.”

‘Right, emotion magic,’ John thought.

“Our condolences to your fallen,” Mason solemnly said, giving a little bow of his head.

“Thank you,” Teri replied, her tone neutral. “We aren’t strangers to loss, but each member of our clan lost adds a heavy burden to the rest of us.”

“Is there any way we could help?” Vivian chimed in.

Teri cracked a tired smile. “Honestly, if you never came here, all of us would be dead. I can’t ask you for any more than what lives will get to see tomorrow thanks to you fighting beside us.”

“Still, we can’t just let you go off after that fight with just the armor on your backs,” Mason cut in. “How about some food? Me and Cammie can whip some up no problem.”

The mention of food caused a pained look to cross Teri’s face and John recalled something from her Observe.

“There are more of your people elsewhere, aren’t there?” John asked softly. When everyone turned their attention to him, he added, “Well, this is the sort of place where you could find real animals to hunt for food, right? And you looked like Mason’s offer of food brought some dark thoughts up.”

Teri bit her lip and her pet trilled softly. After a moment, she let out a sigh.

“Damn, you could be some sort of P.I.,” she finally said. “Yeah, we were just a hunting group. The rest of the clan, those that can’t fight, are set up in a Barrier. We don’t have that much food left. It’s been a bad couple of weeks. We got run out of our home.”

“All the more reason to prepare a feast,” Mason interjected. “How many mouths will we need to feed?”

“I couldn’t possibly impose on you like that,” Teri argured, though Mason’s unrelenting gaze caused her to waver. “There are…” she trailed off, before continuing, “were nearly fifty of us. Now it’s more like twenty-five.”

“All the more reason to render aid,” Cammie said softly. “The Abyss is harsh enough without us forsaking those who can use some help. And it sounds like you’re due for some good fortune.”

Teri looked like she was having a hard time holding back tears for a moment. When she reined in her emotions, she regarded them with moist eyes.

“So,” she said, her voice slightly unsteady. “You got room for a party of about twenty-five? There’ll be a handful of kids.”

“It’ll be a bit of a squeeze,” Mason answered with a wide smile on his face. “But the things worth doing are well worth the effort needed to make them happen.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Aeolia chirped up, her tone thoughtful. “You guys need a good place to stay, right? Cus I know a place that could easily house your people for a while.”

“Wait,” John interjected. “You’re talking about…”

“Yep,” Aeolia cut him off. “Zeph, Thomas and the others wouldn’t have wanted the base to go to waste.” She trained her gaze on Teri.

“It’s not in the best shape right now,” she said with a sad smile. “But the Dawnseeker’s HQ is ready to help you and yours.”

Thanks again for reading this little story. If you liked the chapter, please hit that thumbs up, and if you want to support my writing, check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ScrapCrow. Get access to my chapters before they’re published here and join my private Discord.