Verita - The Guardian of Darkness

24

As the crowd's noises were quieting down and the sunlight disappeared in return for the gloomy lighting of a dirty back-alley, Elanthin positioned herself for a fight. The sturdy monster had followed her obediently, even though the alley was narrow enough to touch either side of its body; a bit too obediently in her opinion. Something about its lazy movements and behavior struck her as odd but there was no sense in analyzing it further; maybe this monster had been damaged by the Eternal Barrier; maybe it hadn't been fully functional from the start. It was all the same to her in this situation.

It didn't take Elanthin longer than a split-second to remember the weak points of this type and to charge towards it in a straight line. One jump, a swift move and her blade would be stuck in the monster's neck.

The monster had little choice; trapped between two sturdy cobblestone walls, it had to counter her attack instead of dodging.

However, Elanthin counted on this. As the beast raised its front leg to dig its claws into her body, she ducked and slid underneath its belly. Under there she was safe for a moment, out of reach of its claws – but at the same time, in terrible danger of being squished like a tiny insect underneath the monster's body.

Warm fur grazed the unprotected skin of Elanthin's nape and the uncomfortable sensation of the monster's body heat made her stomach revolt. She didn't breath in, for the air underneath its body was filled with Nima and the smell of burned hair. Instead, she quickly thrust her swords into the monster's ribcage before it could sink down on her. The sturdy skin resisted her attempt a little, but Elanthin knew well where its protection was lacking.

As soon as she'd plunged her blades into the monster's chest, it let out a blood-curling cry – but it didn't start to collapse, which meant she hadn't quite reached the center of its life-force. Without giving the beast time to free itself, Elanthin twisted her swords until she felt the push-back lessen.

With one last twist, her swords disappeared up to the hilt into the dark fur. No amount of struggling or screaming could help the monster now; she knew she had reached its core, as she yanked her swords free and orange fluid from within the monster's lungs spilled onto the cobblestone.

At least, there could've been lungs there if the Deep's creatures needed something like that. Elanthin had met an unthinkable number of these creatures but none of their bodies had possessed much more than meat, bones, and a core filled with poisonous liquid.

Suddenly standing underneath two- or three-hundred kilos of soon-to-be-dead meat, Elanthin hurriedly rolled forward to escape from being crushed.

Maybe I shouldn't have complained about a lack of training, she thought as the monster collapsed beside her. Its fur touched her in passing but Elanthin was careful enough not to let a drop of its core poison touch her body. Even though an abyss crawler could barely be called a challenge, she could have done without this fight. More importantly, the opportunity for her speech of reconciliation had been stolen.

Standing in front of the carcass, the adrenaline slowly left her body and uncovered the underlying resignation. Why was she – standing in the middle of Gratia – once more covered in monster fluid and drying blood?

Elanthin was busy dusting the street dirt and Nima off her trousers, when a low whirr caught her attention. There was no time to react; before she'd found the origin of the sound, she felt an invisible force push her towards the cobblestone with incredible strength.

Damn magic, was all she could think before Elanthin lost her balance. Barely able to extend her arms in time, she caught her fall onto the rough cobblestone.

Confused and alarmed as she was, Elanthin ignored the burning in her palms as she pushed herself up into a sitting position and quickly raised her head to look for the spell caster. Her ears were ringing with a high-pitched sound, blurring out any other noises and an ice-blue glow surrounded her as she tried to orientate herself in the midst of her confusion.

The light reminded Elanthin of Aetrian's magic. Had he arrived to fight the monster as well? Was she involuntarily caught up in one of his magic spells again?

I'll have to remind him that his magic tricks are only getting in my way, she made a mental note. Despite his intentions, which might be good, she couldn't let herself be blinded or distracted during a fight.

In search of Aetrian's silhouette she narrowed her eyes to see something, anything other than this blinding light. For some reason, however, her eyes weren't able to focus on anything at all.

She barely noticed the shallow pool of blood which had formed under her left hand since the warm trickle running down her arm barely stood out from the overall numbness of her skin.

Confusion gripped Elanthin like a chokehold. She was sure that the abyss crawler hadn't hurt her. It hadn't even gotten a chance to touch her. So where was this wound coming from?

Finally, she managed to raise a hand to feel the wound. It wasn't deep, just a scratch. The pain wasn't too bad either. Rather, the burning sensation which set in was comparable to the scraped skin on her palms. Nothing life-threatening. But as she could feel her senses fail and her limbs grow heavy, Elanthin knew instinctively that something had gone terribly wrong.

From a far away place, panicked screams and a deep voice bellowing orders reached her but her body had no strength left. Despite summoning all her willpower, Elanthin drifted off into an all-encumbering darkness.

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