Knights and Guardians

Time slowed to a crawl as two figures floated above the clearing, just beyond the World Tree’s crimson leaves. One was a swirling mass of green, red and white mist. It seemed to be trying to assume a defined shape, fluctuating between something close to human, a woman in particular, and something more monstrous before collapsing back into a blob.

“You shouldn’t be rushing things, you know,” the second being said in a teasing voice. She was a pretty thing, with green hair, mostly short but with a few strands that reached down to her hips. She wore a simple black shirt and brown skirt, with a cream colored sweater jacket worn open over the shirt. Her eyes twinkled from behind her half-rimmed glasses. “We have all the time in reality, after all.”

The mist twisted a portion of her upper half as if turning a head to glare at the woman next to her.

“They don’t,” the mist said. It was more like a projection of thought as she didn’t have a mouth or vocal cords at the moment. She **** a portion of her lower mass to point down. “My Guardians and your Order are up against three twisted abominations formed from some of the strongest beasts you conjured for the last part of this quest.”

“‘Guardians’?” Gaia asked in an amused tone. “An interesting name for them.”

“Their first task was to guard the World Tree from anything they deemed too dangerous to allow to populate this place. It fits,” the unformed goddess retorted. “And it’s a name I came up with. So I’m keeping it.”

“A bit backwards to decide the name for some organization under you before you choose your own,” Gaia dryly said, an amused smile on her lips. “Though, given the company you’re going to keep, doing things unorthodoxly is the default setting.”

The mist shifted as if she was crossing her arms and pouting. “I have been awake for less than an hour.”

“What is an hour to beings that can stretch a moment into an eternity?” Gaia waxed poetically.

“I think that’s a ‘you’ problem,” the mist shot back. “I know you’re doing all this slowing down. I’m in tune with this place and can feel what exists within it, but I’m not able to just ponder things at a million miles a second.”

“True,” Gaia hummed. “Be glad I’m shouldering a good amount of this place at the moment. It would probably take you a lot longer to form otherwise.”

“You have my thanks, oh great overlady of everything,” the misty half-formed goddess said, bowing as best she could, nearly holding a humanoid shape for a second. “But getting back on topic, why? You could have intervened and kept the quest running as it was presented.”

“Still so much to learn,” Gaia sighed and shook her head. “Since you don’t like just sitting here while the fight’s on pause, I’ll keep it brief. John’s powers needed something to latch onto once they powered up and it only made sense for me to do it. Part jumpstart and part system manager. And most of that runs in the background. I only chime in when I’m bored.”

“You are the ultimate divine **** in the universe, and you’re alleviating your boredom by leaving snarky comments,” the mist said in a flat tone.

“Everyone needs a hobby and the last one I had involved destroying civilizations that stepped over the line,” Gaia retorted. “I think I can speak for most that this is a preferable way to kill time.”

Gaia swept her gaze over the frozen landscape. “As for why I let this happen, my intervention would have caused more issues than it was worth. There is a balance to maintain and throwing my weight around isn’t good for the fabric of reality. The Gamer lets me slip things in, like the seed, but anything big could ripple out and make problems later. And I can See a lot of futures.”

“And making them fight abominations like that is the best option?” the other goddess asked.

“If they prevail, then things will proceed well,” Gaia replied, a faraway look in her amber eyes. They sparkled like a rainbow, flashes of prismatic color making them look like a kaleidoscope. “A bond forged in battle can be the strongest. It is appropriate that two people blessed by my power are on the same side, isn’t it?”

“I suppose,” came the mist’s answer. “They still could have been allies without a life or **** fight.”

“I suppose,” Gaia hummed. “But a fight brings out their best. What better way to show how good you are, both as a person and a fighter, but in such situations.”

“I’m going to step in if things begin to turn,” the mist said. “I won’t just let them die.”

“Can’t say I’m not interested in seeing you try,” Gaia teased with a grin threatening to split her face. “I think that might make you one of the fastest forming gods ever.”

“I’m fairly sure I’ve had multiple advantages others didn’t,” the young goddess pointed out, her body vainly trying to solidify as she spoke. “Your connection to this place the most prominent.”

“Can’t say that’s not true,” Gaia admitted. “But that doesn’t mean you’re getting to achieve manifestation soon. You could be stuck at this stage for a while. Maybe a few decades.”

Gaia’s teasing tone only made the mist swirl in anger.

“You haven’t even settled on a name,” Gaia continued to tease. “Be a bit rude to show up without one.”

The mist was about to reply when a thought came to her, one that seemed to bring everything into focus. To her side, Gaia smiled slightly.

“I think we’ve had enough of a pre-game chat,” the ultimate goddess said, raising her hand up, thumb and middle finger tightly pressed together. “Unpause.”

With a snap, everything began to move once more.

Three masses of twisted flesh roiled into the clearing. Given their previous experience with monsters, John assumed they were all a mishmash of whatever creatures were planned to attack them. And with the amount of claws and fangs the abominations had, the evidence was in his favor. They were undulating masses of muscle, clambering towards them on too many mismatched limbs, half formed mouths dripping with thick saliva and baying in a chaotic chorus.

“Knights, to me!” Moira’s shout to her men drew John’s attention as the Order members arrayed around their Warden, their weapons drawn. “May the Lady’s Light guide us past this trial!”

Golden light surrounded the redhead as she held aloft a warhammer, and even at the distance he stood, John could feel a comforting warmth wash over him. Unfortunately, two of the abominations took her display of power as an invitation to attack.

The two twisted creatures lunged at the knights, powerful predatory muscles propelling the pieced together monstrosities forward. Gnarled limbs and unexpectedly stretchy necks lashed out, but despite the unexpected and assuredly unusual circumstances, the knights held firm, their shields raised to intercept the flurry of claws.

Golden light flashed at the points where claws and fangs met steel, be it shield or armor, seeming to lessen the damage the knights took from the attacks. Their weapons struck back, gold shining off the sharp metal as they cut into the wiry monsters.

“John, the third one’s circling around!” Aeolia called out, shaking John from his Order watching. Sure enough, the hopefully last aberration had swung wide, not bothering with the knights, and was charging right at the tree.

John felt Harker’s magic begin to reinforce his body and dashed to intercept. He summoned Senka and the shadowy spirit manifested and immediately shot a Black Thorn at the charging monster. The shadowy spike impacted the serpentine monstrosity in one of its many eyes, causing it to screech from all its maws in an ear piercing cacophony. More importantly, it caused it to flinch back, stopping its movement for a second. A pause Beth was quick to exploit.

She dropped to one knee and slammed her hands on the ground, a strained look on her face. John could feel her magic flow out towards the aberration and lock onto its many feet. The monster thrashed as Beth’s magic took hold, several patches of dirt and grass ripped up as it fought the adhesive hold.

“Hold still, you bastard!” Beth cursed through grit teeth as she tried to recapture the freed limbs as they touched back down. She was only somewhat successful as the more powerful limbs continued to just rip the binding clods of dirt up.

The monster’s arms and extendable necks flailed about, and Aeolia flew gracefully in between them, shifting to her full size and releasing a crescent of wind right onto the thing’s back before shrinking back down and darting away. She hovered outside of its range for a second before flying to John.

“It’s got regeneration,” she reported as she landed on his shoulder. “Think we should do that anti-healing fire thing?”

“Definitely, but I really don’t want to start a forest fire,” John said. “See if Lynn can get close to the river.”

Aeolia nodded and flew to the alchemist, who had encased herself, Kiera and Martius in the defensive screen of harmful compounds she had employed throughout the earlier fights. Now, however, she was shooting blasts of the stuff at the aberration, further damaging it.

‘We’ll need to keep it occupied so it doesn’t try and attack Lynn when she moves,’ John thought. He gripped his sword and manifested his wind spirit. ‘Senka, think you can help keep it in one spot?’

‘Sounds like you’re doubting me,’ Senka teased.

‘Just don’t want to assume,’ John shot back. He glanced up right as Aeolia came in for a landing.

“Lynn’s good to be on fire duty,” she reported. “Vivian’s providing visual interference.”

“Then it seems like it's time to show just what we can do,” Senka chimed in. “Can’t let the Order show us up on our turf.”

“I don’t think it’s a competition,” John said, Fiery Pursuit manifesting over his outstretched palm. He switched the greatsword out for Senka’s vessel and funneled some of its dark mana into the wind spirit before letting it meld with the fireball. The dimmed flame flickered for a second before John threw it up. The fireball arched up, Aeolia following after it.

“Senka, Beth, keep it in place!” John shouted.

“Doing my best,” Beth yelled back, her hands pressed so hard onto the ground that they were starting to sink into the dirt. “Too many fucking legs.”

“This should help,” Senka remarked, Snaring Shadows erupting from the torn up ground and digging into several of the monster’s limbs. Many of its mouths let out a scream of pain, one echoed by the two fighting the Order. With the abomination pinned, John let his dimmed fireball drop right on its back, a blast of wind from Aeolia right behind it.

The flames erupted with a dull roar, not enough to block out the truly horrendous chorus of pained cries from the creature. It flailed its arms and necks wildly, unintentionally fanning the flames burning its skin, fur and feathers.

John let the wind spirit dance among the flames, spreading the blaze further. Before it could grow too much, he willed the spirit back to him. It darted back to him, but curiously, instead of simply hovering around him, it seemed to want to orbit his left hand.

He couldn’t ponder that as he caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. One of the monsters attacking the Order had pulled back from the solid core of steel the knights formed. Moira seemed to take that as the creature retreating and rallied her men to aggressively attack the one that hadn’t. It was a tactic he’d seen no more than thirty minutes before.

“Fuck, that’s the wolves’ move!” John cursed as that ‘fleeing’ abomination sharply turned and bolted right towards the tree. John moved, dashing to intercept. It was too fast, so John cast both Verdant Surge and Rushing Wind.

His body moved faster than it had before under this combination of skills, something a distant part of John’s mind attributed to having higher stats now in combination with Harker’s minor boost to them. In this state, John was able to reach the aberration before it could reach the tree and he swung the greatsword with all his might.

Impossibly resilient wood met tough hide with a meaty thwack, driving into the monster’s flesh. It let out screams from many of its mouths as John’s momentum caused it to skid slightly, its feet digging furlows in the dirt. John let Rushing Wind end and let the spirit fade back into his aura, wanting to preserve as much mana as possible.

‘I’m under fifty,’ he thought. ‘Need to fight smart. Can’t throw Pursuits around without Lynn to keep any fires from going out of control. I can use Surge one more time on my own, and hopefully, by the end of that, at least one of these bastards will be dead.’

John jumped back, not wanting to be right up close when the monster doubtlessly counterattacked. However, he greatly underestimated its speed and a claw lashed out, striking him in the shoulder.

-12 HP

The blow was a lot stronger than expected and he was thrown to the ground. He managed to throw his arms up, sword waving about to ward off any attack and glove ready to conjure fire.

Then a golden light washed over him, accompanied by an odd sense of peace.

Moira had expected a few things when she led Harlow and the five knights picked to be their escort into the newly appeared Kingdom. To be met by some armed guard or to appear in an untamed wilderness were her first two guesses, outcomes she was confident they could deal with, either by words or steel. She hadn’t expected to drop right in a clearing with a number of people just standing there. Nor that among their number were two of her missing underclassmen.

And she could not have ever predicted three horribly twisted things bursting out of the distant forests. Those surprises, however, weren’t enough to catch her, or her men; flatfooted and with her rallying cry, they readied to fight.

The two monstrosities that attacked them were more terrible up close, but years of training and the comforting warmth of the Lady’s Light were more than enough to keep her head clear. Silver steel and golden radiance beat back the two fiends, their strikes carving deep wounds into them and the counterattacks not able to best the Order’s armor and the Lady’s protection.

A flash of fire caught Moira’s attention for a second, the third monster set ablaze as black vines held it in place. She repressed a shiver at the display and focused back on her men. They fought as valiantly as expected, none of them giving an inch. A particularly strong slash from Harlow drove one of them back, crimson blood flying from its wound as it recoiled away.

Moira expected it to continue its retreat, or circle around to strike them from another angle. She did not foresee it launching itself towards the golden tree at the center of the clearing. Nor for John Newman, the shy boy she had seen cowering by her locker a week ago, move to intercept it by himself, dashing at speeds that were clearly magically produced.

“Harlow, take command. Smith, with me,” Moira ordered, before hurrying to aid Newman. There was only the barest of nods from the two men before Harlow began to issue commands and Smith fell into jog right behind her. The knight knew at a glance what his Warden’s plan was.

Moira saw as Newman crashed, blade first, into the monster, his momentum enough to halt the thing’s movement. But not enough to stop it from swiping at him. To his credit, he had attempted to disengage but whatever speed he had on his approach was no longer in effect, and he took the blow to his shoulder, causing him to crash to the ground.

Newman managed to bring his sword up in an attempted defense, his other hand also extended. But on his back, any defense would be poor at best. And so, as Warden of the Shield, one of the bearers of the Golden Rose, she let loose the power vested in her.

“By the Lady’s Grace, you will not harm him!” she cried, golden light brighter than she’d ever called bloomed around her. The power of the Lady flowed through her like the dawn, banishing the darkness before it, and she surged forward. Her hammer swung into the monster’s flank with thunderous ****, the crunch of bones overpowered by the wail of pain the creature emitted.

The abomination flinched back from Moira’s attack, and away from Newman, and he managed to scramble to his feet.

“Thanks,” he panted out. “Don’t have time to explain, but we can’t let them reach the tree. It’d be very bad.”

Moira would very much like an explanation, but a battlefield was not the place for it. There were many questions running through her mind, mainly ones revolving around just how he was involved with everything that had transpired in the last week. How he’d come into the Abyss, how he came to be one of the first people in this Kingdom, and how he was connected to the blood stealing case. But questions answered here and now would do them no good if they fell to the monsters before them.

“We’ll deal with this, then talk,” Moira said as the monster snarled at them, evidently more enraged with them hurting it than its seeming drive to reach the tree behind them.

Newman nodded, his grip tightening on his sword.

“Right.”

And the fight began anew.

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