The orb has spoken. A hero must rise, and unite all the creatures of Ammertia to face a greater, ever growing threat to the south.
However, tensions are growing to an all time high between the races. The elves have separated themselves from society...
The Kelpie lunged at Sylvia, who managed to dive out of the way just in time and roll to the side. It barrelled past her, digging in it's hooves to change direction and charge once more. It's black mane billowed as it whipped it's head around, nostrils flaring in anger.
"Sylvia, run!" Aliyah called out, drawing their double sword from behind their back. Darian too was pulling his axe from his back, clicking the button and engulfing it in vivid flames.
Sylvia dove once more as the beast ran at her, barely missing her side as she rolled. She turned, pivoting on the balls of her feet and drawing out a dagger from her thigh. She barely had time to aim, however sent the dagger soaring towards the Kelpie. It struck the creature in the chest, just slightly to the left.
The Kelpie barely noticed, rearing once more and charging. Sylvia could not keep this up, the Kelpie was too fast. She whistled, the high pitch ring carrying across the forest.
Porche soon came running, her chest nut hair glimmering in the final kisses of sunlight. Sylvia grabbed her reigns, leaping atop of the horse. However the Kelpie was nearby, closing in on them. With a swift kick on Porche's side, they were off.
Porche galloped towards the lake, the Kelpie in pursuit. Leading the monster away from the villagers. Sylvia glanced back, and saw the beast swiftly catching up. It was fast, faster than any horse could run. She also saw a flicker of white behind the Kelpie, and knew that it was Aliyah atop their white elk. They would never catch up, not at this rate.
The Kelpie was soon side by side with Sylvia, who was now desperately swinging with her short swords at the beast. She swung twice, missing both times. Frustrated, she resorted to simply stabbing at the Kelpie.
Which landed.
Her scimitars were sticking out of the shoulder of the Kelpie, wobbling as it ran. However, it did not slow. Instead the creature became furious, enraged through the pain. In a fit of rage, the horse charged sideways into Porche, knocking Sylvia and the horse off balance.
Porche crashed, flinging Sylvia off her back and landing in the sand with a hard thud. She tried to get back up, however the sand sank beneath her hooves and was making it tricky to balance.
Sylvia, however, was on her feet. Staring down the monster, who was only a couple metres away from her. She gazed into those charcoal eyes, seeing only malice and anger. Aliyah was too far away, still riding at full speed yet still unable to catch up to the monster.
Using her haemomancer tiara, Sylvia knew she could not bend the blood of the beast. Magical blood resisted the tiara, and the Kelpie was full of it. She could use her own blood, but that would weaken her severely.
However, she felt through the tiara the presence of non-magical blood, coming from within the Kelpie. In the belly, blood that would be susceptible to her magic.
The blood of the boy.
The Kelpie had feasted recently, and the boys blood was still inside of it. That, Sylvia could work with. The Kelpie pawed the ground, flicking up sand as it did so. It looked ready to charge.
Sylvia held up a single hand, palm facing the creature. The Kelpie went to lunge, however was stopped by an unseen force, as if held by an invisible wall. The Kelpie screamed in anger, baying aggressively. But it could not move.
Sylvia balled her hand into a fist, still raised. She imagined the blood in the belly becoming a tight ball, knotted in the Kelpies gut. The screams of anger turned into cries of pain, as the Kelpie knelt down in front of Sylvia. It looked up at her, dark eyes glowering with anger.
From a fist, Sylvia then spread her fingers out rapidly. She imagined the blood exploding, shooting out in all directions. The actual result was not as violent, however the Kelpie screamed again, sinking further to the ground.
Aliyah had gained on the fight, their elk running full pelt nearby. Aliyah leapt off of the elk, soaring through the air with their double sword drawn. They raised it above their head, holding it with two hands. With one foul swoop, Aliyah brought the sword down, decapitating the Kelpie as it was inebriated.
Releasing the magic hold, Sylvia stood, looking at Aliyah. Her chest was heaving, amazed at both what she had done and also Aliyah's leap of death. Aliyah looked back at her, green eyes swimming with the thrill of the hunt.
They then ran at each other, wrapping their arms around one another in a tight embrace. Aliyah laced their hands around Sylvia's waist, and Sylvia's hands tangled in Aliyah's long hair.
Their lips met, passionate from the heat of battle. Hungry, ravenous lips that smashed together. Tingles erupted from Sylvia's tongue, tingles that rippled throughout her body and being.
"Erhmm," Darian coughed, interrupting the passionate embrace. Aliyah and Sylvia only stopped kissing, still wrapped in each other's arms.
"Weird turn on, but who am I to judge," Dirella added, appearing behind him. Sylvia blushed a bright red, stepping away from Aliyah, however still holding their hand.
"An elf?" An angry voice shouted from the safety of the trees. The villagers appeared soon after, emerging from the shrubbery. Amidst the battle, Aliyah's hood had fallen down. Now, their long pointy ears were on display for everyone to see.
"Yeah, so what?" Sylvia retorted, "this elf just saved your life."
"My boy is dead," a woman cried out, voice wobbling with emotion. It was the woman who had lost her son, the same son who's innards had been found on the shore side. The same boy whose blood Sylvia had just used to defeat the monster.
"It was a Kelpie. Water demon who can change form," Darian explained, turning on his diplomacy voice. Sylvia gave Aliyah's hand a squeeze, as Aliyah placed their hood back up with the other hand.
"Why didn't you warn us this lake had one of them things? Shouldn't you know about this stuff? You're a hunter!" Another villager cried out. Sylvia felt her patience burning out, and noticed Darian too was somewhat annoyed.
"We couldn't have known! There's god knows how many lakes in Ammertia, and we just so happened to be unfortunate enough to-"
"Alright folks, it's been a long day," Olive interrupted Darian, trying to uphold the unsteady peace of the group, "we will hold a ceremony for the boy, and then I think it is best we rest."
The villagers mumbled grumpily to one another, before seeming to agree with the proposition. They turned and retreated into the woods, where they had made a camp of sorts.
"Why do they like you, and not us?" Dirella asked, directed at Olive. Olive turned, smiling sweetly.
"They didn't at first. Took a while for them to accept me. But I guess as soon as they realised I wasn't a threat, they followed my lead," she replied.
"It's been getting worse lately. Anger directed at magical beings," Dirella said with disdain. The group looked at her with surprise. Dirella had been quiet these past few days, explained mainly by her use of magic to enter the King's dreams tiring her dramatically.
"Must have something to do with the vampire attacks," Darian offered, however Dirella shook her head.
"No, it's not that. I suspect it has something to do with the King of New Nortia, and I'm going to find out why."
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Another chapter down! I've lately been getting into 80s synth music, thanks to the new Stranger Things. I recommend you give it a try, really nice to write to.
