Azrie
patreon
BLAIR | Chapter. 19: Scorched
🕑 Added 2022-09-01 04:40:58 +0000 UTCChapter. 19: Scorched
I chased after the Boreal Kame, its frost white plumage eluded me, barely catching glimpses of its red scaly spine every now and then. The bird was as fast as me it seemed, getting no good shooting angles I had no choice but to simply follow along. It didn’t seem to be doing any type of effort to escape so much as just evading me, constantly breaking line of sight, but in spite of everything, it never stopped.
The chase continued for hours, neither of us ran at full speed, but the bird did not seem to get tired, it was as if its stamina was inexhaustible. I was barely keeping up the pace, and as I considered whether to continue chasing or not I decided to keep at it for another hour, if it didn’t stop then, then it was going to be my loss.
Before I knew it, the hour ended and before I knew it, four hours had passed since the start of the chase. I was a sweating mess; one of grime and dirt, my clothes felt damp and adhered to my body like glue. I rounded a tree, where I was the bird running towards a cave; seated in the rocky sidewalls of a small cliff, its walls had scratches and were uneven, feathers littered the entrance, and the Boreal Kame ran straight ahead. The bird seemed to wobble after every step, but as if its life depended on it, it continued. It smashed against the side of the cave and stumbled inside.
I gasped for air leaning onto a tree with a shaky arm, my entire body ached and protested for energy. I was having self doubt on whether to continue to chase it inside the cave, but I had come so far; when it was so close, could I really let it go? It didn’t sit well with me to work so hard for nothing— I had to at least try.
I gave myself a few minutes to recover most of my stamina, though the need for water and food was unavoidable. My mana was full, but I double checked my belt to see if I had mana potions on it, and I had two of them, and a missing health potion, which was replaced by a new one. I nodded to myself and making sure everything was ready I grabbed my bow and preemptively slotted an arrow. I briefly considered drinking a mana potion for the passive mana regeneration, but decided against it. A deep breath later and I walked forward.
The cave was unnaturally quiet. The only sound was the harrowing wind that the cave seemed to swallow indefinitely; I was alone with the quiet whistles of the wind. Why did it go inside the cave if there was nothing there? I frowned, having a bad feeling. The Boreal Kame seemed much smarter than the other Kames I had seen, it had shown me it could make decisions in the heat of the moment. My frown deepened, there had to be something in the cave, but at this point in time I couldn’t think of anything.
Teetering between the decision on whether to listen to the feeling or not was futile, I knew I was stronger than the bird, or at least strong enough to kill it. There had to be a trap inside, but so long as I was prepared everything was going to be fine. I swapped one mana potion for a health potion, ending up with two and one. If things go sideways, then I can just drink one and run. I nodded to myself and walked into the cave.
No sounds had been made, nothing entered my ears but the distant howl of the wind. I nocked an arrow, and Glim floated by my side in silence. It surprised me it had nothing to say, all things considered. Though as if hearing my thoughts it replied.
[I think it’s your own decision,] its voice was clear as crystal.
I found solace in the fact that Glim wasn’t stopping me, even if the atmosphere was eerily quiet. Glim’s glow helped me see in the dark, as I reached deeper I saw marks of blood on the wall, small splatters along with some feather fluff. What had happened here? It was odd, some of the blood had been smeared onto the wall as if there was a fight.
As I reached further, I saw a beheaded Kame with marks of frost. My frown instantly deepened seeing the ice crystals that filled the cave. They glittered like the moonlight due to Glim’s glow, the more I walked the more frosted blood I saw. Kame corpses filled the ground, their feathers frosted away, or their legs and necks cut with ice, mercilessly rent. My frown deepened, there had to be something dangerous ahead, but so far I had seen no trace of the Boreal Kame; only frost filled the place, it was certainly alive, I knew that for certain.
I paused feeling second doubts about chasing it into the cave. There was something dangerous lurking inside the cave, there was no doubt about it. Perhaps I should wait it out outside? As I pondered with increasing concern I heard a screech in the distance, it was oddly familiar. But it was one of blood, primal and unhinged.
Readying myself to fire at any point in time I followed the direction of the sound, the cave seemed to go in a downwards slope past all the corpses, the angle was steep enough to be visible with the naked eye. As I reached the edge, at the very bottom I saw a spark, it shone in an orange light before it faded. The screech resounded yet again. Glim finally caught up to my side, and its light shone down.
What the— The scene gave me pause; disheveled and lacking most of its feathers, its back shone in an orange glow with flames, its wing missing. It creaked and twisted as frost surrounded its body, every time flames came it seemed to scream in pain and agony, it thrashed and looked at its surroundings with an odd feeling. At the bottom there was no lack of blood and feathers, no lack of traces of battle, but only it remained.
[Boreal Kame. Lvl. 10]
It had leveled up? It had killed all the Kames here to level up? I looked behind me, the corpses shone in the dim light along with the suspended ice crystals in the air, the entire place glittered with beauty, but beneath all that was a massacre. The massacre of all the Kames that lived here.
As I turned to see the Boreal Kame an image formed in my mind; one of ash and destruction, one of agony and screams, one of death. I gnashed my teeth. It had killed every single Kame here to level up? To be stronger? There was no doubt about it, this was a Kame nest, and it had massacred all of it.
The more I stared the angrier I got. It was no longer about killing it for a quest, it was no longer about simply trying to level up. It had become personal. Wasn’t the Boreal Kame the same race just different subspecies?
Just like the elves.
I tensed the bowstring in an instant channeling all my mana in the process, using both of my skills simultaneously. The bow shone in a verdant hue that filled the cave. The Boreal Kame croaked and turned around, its beak was missing pieces and one of its eyes was missing from the socket. When it saw me, it screeched once more, primal and full of anger. I snorted and let go of the string. The air boomed, and the arrow dashed towards it at an explosive speed.
The Boreal Kame let out a cry, its back lit itself ablaze, its tail whipped forth with spikes like a deathly whip, flaming wisps streaked and collided. With an explosion between the flames, the arrow hit through the fire, like a shooting star it exploded. Green bloomed past the veil of orange.
As I nocked another arrow, a screech along with more wisps of flame came my way. This time, there was blue, a line of frost was shot. I sneered and quickly jumped back. The tiny particles of flame collided mid air, and with a bright light they expanded in front of me, the shadowed frost missed and hit the roof of the cave with crystals, the explosion however reached my leg. Burning pain assaulted it, I yelped with a shrill voice as a crawling sensation spread through my leg and boot. It was a small breath of it, and yet my clothes melted into my skin. My pink muscle turned orange as it seemed to fizzle from the residual heat.
I hushed a scream as I quickly grabbed two potions, quickly drinking the mana one and the health one. A plan of action popped in my mind. Do not let the heat touch me. It was a simple instruction, but one that would save my life. I had to stop that from happening by all means necessary.
I threw the vials away, they broke with a chime in a faraway corner of the cave. Seeing the carbonated walls of the cave from the leftover flame made me thankful that we weren’t in the forest. I limped forward, not wanting the Boreal Kame to get the jump on me while the potion slowly trickled towards my leg. It was getting better by the second, but I wasn’t going to be able to sprint any time soon.
I looked down the slope only to see the Boreal Kame twisting itself in pain, a part of its body was missing and its tender flesh was visible. But with every yelp of pain the scales on its back lit up with small wisps of fire. It looked in my direction but completely missed me. Glim was expectating and unmoving, at that moment something clicked— it couldn’t see Glim. It had only locked onto me because of the mana hue.
I smiled, finally figuring out the strategy to defeat it. I drank another health potion in an attempt to speed up the process of healing, which thankfully it paid off. The Boreal Kame seemed on edge but it made no attempt to move from its spot, giving me time to recover.
A minute passed as I carefully surveyed the Boreal Kame but no action was made, three minutes passed and much the same.
Before I knew it ten minutes passed, and something strange happened. The Kame began to squeal in agony, its throes of despair echoed throughout the cave clearly in my ears. The howl of the wind reached all the way into the cave, its small whispers accompanied by the squeals of the Boreal Kame. Its small sound was not one of hatred or anger, but one of sadness. I didn’t hear it before.
Had it always been doing that?
I frowned but arrived at no answer, instead I made sure to check on my body. Once everything seemed to be healed I nocked another arrow and smiled to myself, I enhanced the string in an instant thanks to Power Draw, and simply shot another arrow, this time unenhanced and not ready to explode. The Kame yelped seeing the verdant hue on the wall, and before it could react the arrow hit its side eliciting a shrill cry. My body simultaneously moved and ran out of the way to the other side of the slope.
The bird turned around and with a bright red tail it whipped in the previous direction. Spikes of red flew and engrained themselves into the wall, before they exploded with a small fire. The Kame now able to see locked onto me, its eye shone with red as it whipped once more. I shot another arrow, this time it streaked and hit the base of its neck. Instead of scales, wisps came, knowing what they did I ran and backed off not thinking twice about it.
The explosion bloomed, and once more the cave was in total darkness. The hissing of the Boreal Kame echoing throughout.
I smiled. Rinse and repeat.
◇ ◇ ◇
Another mana potion was used. The bird was helpless, light would flood its eyes before being snuffed out of existence, all it could do was shriek in rage and throw wisps which would get an Explosive Shot in reply. The Boreal Kame seemed to identify this as pure danger, and would send ice to stop it, but every time it always graced him in some way.
I grinned to myself seeing the marred bird, blood dripped out of every place and it seemed to be getting tired. I tentatively thought about my two mana potions while in the dark. I was going to win the endurance game this time around. I nocked another arrow amidst the silence, I had used two Explosive Shots so far, and could use one more before needing to drink another mana potion. Though it was preferable to drink it at the midpoint— the question was. Should I?
I looked at the Boreal Kame who was in its last leg awaiting its death. It was passive, waiting for me to attack it. It would bleed out to death even without me, no? I nodded to myself and instead of enhancing my arrow in some way, I simply pulled back the string. Its head twitched hearing the sound but seeing nothing.
The arrow was shot, and with a howl it drove into its head, except it hit its beak and graced the side of its head. It croaked but didn’t attack. Perhaps the head was a no go. With a frown I readjusted my aim and aimed at its leg. The string was let go in the dark, the arrow zipped and hit its leg. With a growl it waited once more.
Another arrow was shot, this time hitting its torso.
I smiled to myself, as I nocked another arrow. The Kame was trembling, it was its last moments. Goodbye. I drew the string and shot—
A shriek shook the cave, the Boreal Kame screamed in defiance as its scales shone in a fiery red. An explosion engulfed the arrow with a heatwave, the metal melted mid air with an incandescent light. The invisible heat waved charred the walls. My eyes widened as I hurriedly slotted another arrow and shot an explosive shot to get out of the way, it was half-assed, half-charged. Its recoil was weaker but it got me out of the slope, the heatwave crashed against the ceiling, singing the entire crevice.
I hurriedly drank a mana potion, before turning to look at the crevice. The walls glowed like the insides of a furnace, its enchanting orange emanated enough heat to make me sweat. The hoarse shrieks of the bird reached me as I heard them coming closer and closer.
A shadow loomed around the corner, and when I saw it, it was nothing more than a skeleton. It’s ashen bones and draping flesh shone with an overlapping radiance of flames. Its ever-melting flesh and fiery blaze were doing nothing more than send shivers through me.
[Boreal Kame, Bearer Of The Last Flame. Lvl. 10]
You have to be kidding me. I almost cried. It was another guardian?
