Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 4

Crushed

Sunny spun her spear sharply in a circle stabbing a shadow through the center of its midnight chest. The creature screamed as she tore the spear free, spraying a fan of tarry black icor in a short, sharp arc, an arc that ended against the, theoretical, skull of a second shadow.

The shadow dropped, and another figure rose behind it, black silhouette framed by the light of roaring orange Morzen fire.

It didn't loom long, as two curved blades sprouted from its back. Despite its featureless black face, sunny could almost see the shock and confusion as it stared down at its impaled body. Sunny didn't leave it too much time to contemplate and withdrew her weapons with a short tug.

The creature fell back, dissolving into a tarry puddle that slicked the metal catwalk beneath them. The remains of the creatures were simultaneously slippery and sticky, and she struggled to keep her feet as they slid across smooth metal,

Sunny adjusted the spear in her upper hands, and the short curved blades in her lower hands turned sharply to her right, throwing her lower right arm and sword into a shallow arc that judiciously separated a shadow's head from its shoulders.

Pivoting to her left she used her spear to stab another one of the oncoming creatures through the throat, pinning it down to the ground as it dissolved, The creature that took its place attempted to lunge for Sunny even as its companion fell, but she dodged last moment, the wind of its passing brought a blast of heat into Sunny's face that nearly stung her eyes.

The nostrils at the base of her neck flared in a desperate attempt to keep her air cool and moist, though they were fighting a losing battle. Despite all of their battle prowess, even skill could be overcome by sheer numbers. And if there was anything the enemy had, it was cannon fodder.

The doorway up onto the catwalk was choked with roiling black bodies, a thrashing mass that poured out faster than they could be cut down. Celex hovered nearby firing blast after blast into the open doorway, technicolor hair whipping around his shoulders in a rainbow halo. Firelight burned across his body, though the reflection in his eyes was drowned out by the steady golden glow that emanated from behind his pupils.

Sunny was doing her best to hold the top of the stairs, planted like a retaining wall against a stormy ocean of darkness.

Beneath them the lava river roared bathing them all in the deepest hues of firelight.

Another wave of creatures raced up towards her.

Sunny stepped up to meet them, ducking once to avoid a shadowy wip of blackness before wading into the carnage, her blades rising and falling with an inevitability she had trained into herself for years.

But still, it wasn't enough.

Slowly, she was backed up the stairs, and onto the landing pad where the others waited.

Despite her and Celex's efforts, shadows still continued to spill past them, water droplets making it over that retaining wall.

But on the other side, Maverick waited.

At first Sunny had assumed that Maverick's situation was similar to that of Noctus, a creature living inside her, cohabitating with the anima within, but she was beginning to realize that whatever happened to Maverick, wasn't quite the same as what had gone on with Noctus.

These creatures, the black shadows were relatively weak on their own, they had no real fighting experience, they were not particularly durable, and they could be put down with near impunity. It was only with their sheer numbers did they manage to accomplish anything at all.

But whatever had managed to make itself at home inside maverick, was a different beast entirely.

As the black shadows began pouring up the catwalk, Maverick's body had begun to pulse with that same dark aura her body twitching unnaturally, eyes beginning to glow with little orange pinpricks. Had Sunny not known maverick so well, she would certainly have made her death the first priority, but her trust extended far enough to watch, as a crawling black shadow ripped itself from maverick's skin before enveloping her in a churning cloud of darkness.