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Retreat, Hell - Episode 11.5
🕑 Added 2020-03-06 21:23:17 +0000 UTCA/N: Hey, guys! Work's still been super busy, and I haven't had as much time to work on Episode 13 as I would have liked (though it's coming along), but I did manage to finish Tyriel's next little mis-adventure! This one is pretty short, but I know you guys will really enjoy it.
For reference, this takes place on the same day as Episode 11.
Retreat Hell – Episode 11.5
The sun was just starting to crest the mountains to the East.
Songbirds were starting their morning calls.
Tyriel’s lungs burned.
The cursed beasts were baying behind him. They had found him. Again.
His breath came in stabbing bursts as he dodged around trees, over fallen logs and branches. His steps had slowed, his feet leaden. He would need to replenish his mana reserves soon. From what few mana crystals I have left…
He heard shouting not far behind. The humans were closing. How can they just keep going?!
Another beast bayed, directly behind him.
He whirled. The infernal creature was almost right on top of him!
He lowered his staff and fired into the animal’s sagging face, while simultaneously reaching into a pouch to drain one of the handful of mana crystals he had left. The beast’s abbreviated yelp was drowned out by the whining zap of his staff, and it tumbled to the ground at Tyriel’s feet.
Mana flowed into him as the crystal was consumed, replenishing his reserves. He drew a large potion of it into his living body, replenishing his physical energy and chasing away the exhaustion, for a time.
A crack thundered through the trees, and a human projectile snapped over his head. He sent a volley of shardbursts in the human’s direction while ducking behind the tree next to him. Two more humans fired at him, a pair of shots each. Both flew wide, though one impacted another tree nearby.
He sent a second volley of shardbursts after them before sprinting to another tree, further up the ridge. More rounds snapped past him from the first human as he ran, but they were focused on the first tree he had covered behind.
Ducking behind his new cover point, he cursed the trees of this land for their obstinate silence. Another barrage from the humans zipped and pinged around him.
Peaking out, he spotted two of the humans through a cluster of underbrush. Not a great shot… But a little fire will cause them problems. He swung his staff around and it spat out a rapid salvo of four firebursts, peppering the humans and the brush they hid behind. He heard them shout in surprise, and one in pain as the dry shrubbery burst into flames.
A second beast howled as more rounds from the first human peppered his tree. Tyriel snarled in hatred, and sent a spray of shardbursts after the wretched thing. A yelp followed by high-pitched yowling told him he had hit it, but not silenced it.
Three more rounds kicked up dirt and splinters around him, and Tyriel flinched back under cover. He glanced ahead, further up the mountain. The top of the next ridge is just there… If I can get over it, I can have a down-hill sprint across part of the next hollow… That will buy me some time. He frowned as he heard more shouting in the distance, and the faint, thumping pulse of one of their air machines. I can’t keep this up much longer…
He leaned around, sending another salvo of shardbursts at the humans, and took off, dashing up the hill as fast as his legs and mana reserves could push him. A single shot chased him over the ridge, but missed.
With the ridge behind him, Tyriel sprinted into the next hollow. Running downhill, gravity was his friend, aiding his escape from the humans. Until he reached the other side, and it wasn’t.
His chest heaved, and his lungs were on fire as he pushed himself up the hill. He drove ever upwards, striving to cross the mountain, into the wilderness he was certain lay beyond.
Reaching the top of the hollow, he heard more shouts of the humans cresting the ridge behind him. More of the cursed beasts came with them, though their barks and deep-chested growls were different from the baying of the saggy-faced creatures that had been hounding his every step.
His reserves already nearly depleted again, he spared a glance over his shoulder. He had been able to gain a lead on them once again, but it was smaller every time. He counted his mana crystals. Just two remaining, and smaller ones at that… Any hope of escape he had left vanished. Capture or death was inevitable. But I can still accomplish my mission.
Consuming one of his remaining crystals, he glanced up into the trees above him. There. A light pulse from his staff flashed into the tree. A songbird dropped, tumbling to the ground, stunned.
He knelt behind the log it had fallen next to, and gently picked it up. Satisfied that it was still intact, he pulled a small control button from another pouch, and pressed the spikes into the back of its head. It twitched as they pierced its skull and the magic activated.
Next, he drew a memory crystal. He had already prepared it with what he had learned at the house, during one of his early rests. Now he added the last of what he had seen and learned during his pursuit.
The memory transfer took but a moment. They would be raw, and unfiltered, but it was all he had time for. And, this way, his superiors would get every detail, even the ones he had missed himself.
The transfer complete, he secured the memory crystal to the control button, and imparted his commands. They were simple and crude. Fly. A direction, through the portal. Another direction. Continue flying. More complex instructions were possible, even direct control, but not without a larger, more sophisticated control device, and a greater knowledge of the creature’s mind. The existing commands would drive the creature to continue flying until it died of exhaustion, but it wouldn’t have survived the spiking, anyway.
Commands imparted, he set the still-stunned creature beside the log, and resumed his own flight.
***
Police Sergeant Goldberg huffed his way up the mountainside, hot on the heels of his partner, Lazarus. The German Shepherd was off the leash, now, after having practically hauled Goldberg out of the latest damned hollow, but he hadn’t yet bolted in for the attack.
Damn, this bastard is quick, he thought, struggling to keep the child-murdering cop-killer in sight, But he tires quick, too… He wished he could just draw his sidearm and shoot the fucker. But orders are to kill only if absolutely necessary… They want him alive. I hope they torture the intel out of the sonofabitch.
Lazarus skidded to a halt and looked up, surprised by a bird as it exploded up from behind a log, but he was distracted for only a moment. With a half-yip, half-growl at the offending bird as it disappeared into the sky, he leapt over the hurdle and the chase continued.
***
Huffing along the easier slope of the main ridge, Tyriel heard footfalls and a growl behind him. He spun, his staff in his left hand, ready to blast another of the cursed beasts.
The monster was closer than he thought, however, and he had barely spun around when the beast slammed into him like a fur-covered missile. Its jaws latched onto his left arm as he was tackled to the ground, and he bellowed in pain as he felt bones break. His staff was thrown uselessly aside.
Gritting his teeth, he grabbed his sword with his free hand, but before he could draw the gemblade, another beast leapt onto him, grabbing his arm and ripping his hand away from the hilt. Cursing, he tried to kick at them, but a third monster latched onto his ankle.
Jerking their heads, their teeth pierced through gaps in his armor, tearing flesh and grinding against bone. Stretched and pinned, he shouted in pain. His fight was over.
But there was one last spell, if he could just concentrate…
The humans arrived, shouting in their barbaric language, but he would not let them take him alive. He drew the spell in his mind.
“Tazer! Tazer! Tazer!”
The beasts leapt away. Their mistake! He grinned, readying the last of his reserves.
Two needles stabbed his neck, and his world exploded in electric fire.
He twitched and spasmed, the spell thrown from his mind.
The darkness took him.
Comments
You have create a fantastic story line! Can't wait for more! You are so multi-talented!
Pretentious Slime
“This is amazing!!!” - Lord Shax
