The Rainlands: Grand Delusion

Chapter 30: You Were All Confident

"Could try to sneak past?" She suggested. "Or...we could try to take advantage of the situation." Jasmine stared at the fight intently, trying to puzzle out the best solution. Levi wouldn't have even considered anything but trying to sneak past, maybe even running in the other direction until today. But even though he didn't know where he was getting his confidence from, he didn't dismiss the thought of staying and watching how things played out.

"Let's watch." He said. It didn't take long for the battle to begin. The Direwolves acted completely different than how Jasmine had said they would, almost completely disregarding their fear of armed men. They attacked as a group, two rushing forward from the front and another two coming from the sides. The two mounted riders reared their horses, screaming insults and brandishing swords.

"What's wrong with you beasts! Have a death wish?" One of them yelled as a wolf threw itself at him. His horse was too slow to react, and its master was forced to meet the snarling beast with his sword. In an instant, he was knocked out of the saddle, into the dirt. In return, the wolf's face was split in two, and it dropped, pawing the dirt, blood mixing with its drool as the life left its veins. Before the thrown rider could rise, another wolf was upon him, tearing into his armor. His horse turned, attempting to kick the enemy away with its backlegs, but then more beasts came from the side and it was forced to dance away or risk being eaten itself. The dismounted rider quickly rushed in, clearing a space for the downed man to rise.

"Damn these things! Why are they attacking us! Are we in their nest?" He yelled. "Yue, we could use a hand!" However, the last remaining rider on a horse was too preoccupied defending himself from multiple Direwolves to respond. Up above, he waved his sword around in circles whenever a wolf came close, but it was obvious that he was surrounded. Levi began to feel his previous enthusiasm wain from afar while watching the savagery of the Direwolves. Maybe we should just sneak past actually.

"Jasmine, it looks like they're done for. Maybe we just go aro-"

Tsss

A little hiss, a little puff of air, Levi barely had time to react, in fact...he was too slow. The massive wolf from the back had somehow gotten to their blind side during the fighting. Jasmine was faster, but only just barely managed to bring her dagger to bear. It seemed pitifully small against the massive wolf coming towards them. Up close, Levi realized it was far larger than it had appeared. Raingods! It's bigger than the horses! He could see the weeping gashes it had carved in its own skin as it dug its claws into the dirt and lunged for them. Before Levi could bring his sword around, it was already on top of them, and Jasmine roughly shoved him to the side, using the force from saving him to save herself. Levi watched amazed, as she turned in the air, and he saw the tip of her blade flash before it was blocked by the Direwolf's massive body.

"HAAA!"

The beast grunted as Jasmine's dagger found its mark, no doubt cutting into the Direwolf's body. Levi himself, jumped back as the beast careened past, tumbling in the dirt. He saw Jasmine a few feet away. Her stance was tense, too tense. He froze, all the blood seemingly rushing to his head as he saw her bleeding from her left upper arm.

"Jasmine!" He screamed, forgetting about the other Direwolves, or even the men. Nothing else mattered, he only saw her, and the thing which had hurt her. Red pounded in his vision. She looked down and touched her arm with her knife still in her hand, appearing almost surprised.

"It got me." She said, sounding dazed. Then the beast was back and there was no time for talk. It's huge! He got a proper look at it, and even in the heat of the moment he couldn't get the thought out of his head. Levi felt like he was holding a toothpick in front of it. However, when he saw the unnatural way Jasmine stood, hunched over in pain, rage took him over. All the panic faded away and he strode forward boldly. An image appeared in his head. He saw a hand appear in front of him. His hand, and it was crackling with power. Below him, all manner of people prostrated themselves, worshipping him. Heat filled Levi's body. My head is pounding!

Crack!

Lightning flashed on his sword, sparks flying off to the ground and smoldering in the grass. The air smelled burnt, and Levi strode forward confidently though he didn't really know what he was doing. It was such a strange sight even the crazed mutated Direwolf hesitated for a second. Then it attacked. Its left paw accelerated, the claws nearly seven inches long. They came at Levi and he threw himself underneath. He heard Jasmine cry out, worry in her voice.

"Levi! What are you doing!" She shrieked, but he was too busy to answer. A voice in his head whispered to him, and for some reason he trusted it entirely in this critical moment. Strike its belly. Lightning will cleanse the beast. He twisted under the Direwolf. Its snarling jaws snapped down to try to catch him but he dug his feet into the ground and pushed off, getting under its stomach. Then swung his crackling sword up in a wild crescent swing. A black line appeared on the wolf's belly, its fur singing around the cut. Spasms rocked it and Levi pushed off the ground, diving out from under it as it fell to the ground. In front of him, with one arm bleeding, and the other holding her dagger in disbelief, stood Jasmine. "How did you...since when did you..." She said, at a loss for words. Through the hole in her mask, Levi could see her mouth was open.

"I just...knew." He said, staring at his hands in wonder. Was that really me? "Wait what happened to the others?" The two of them turned only to see all three riders had been dismounted. Their horses were dead. One of the men was on the ground, blood streaming from a missing leg. His companions were trying to stem the bleeding, but when they saw Jasmine and Levi, they rose. "Uh Jasmine. They're coming!"

Jasmine raised her knife, but then thought better of it, grimacing and clutching her bad arm.

"Can you do that lightning thing again? They're wearing an awful lot of armor." She asked grimly. Levi tried to summon the spark, remember what he had done last time to cloak his blade in lightning. However, as the soldiers approached, he got nervous as nothing happened. He was so tired all of a sudden, as if the lightning had sucked out all the electricity in his brain.

"I...it was a fluke! Jasmine! I don't know what to do!" He turned around everywhere, but saw nothing but trees and dead Direwolves. "Do we fight?"

"I don't know!" Jasminepractically moaned. "You were all confident a second ago! Do something!"