Brentha slowly stepped up the stone stairs while aiming down her rifle. She knew that she needed to be in a hurry but she was just being careful. Even with all of the urgency all of her nerves got to her.
Peering around to the last set of steps from the spiraling staircase a wooden door was closed shut. She nervously followed the remaining few. Reaching it she reluctantly held out her hand, hesitating to turn the doorknob.
Finally gathering up the courage she approached it like ripping off a bandage. She threw open the door and quickly got back to looking down at the ironsight. Uff was sitting down in the middle of the room with his legs crossed. But, strangely he wasn’t actually touching the ground, rather he was floating a few feet in the air.
His eyes were closed and he was doing a constant humming tune. He was in the middle of a drawn circle with blood. Six candles were surrounding him with them all slightly being dimmed a bit.
He seemed to not notice her at all, having been captured in an incognizant state. It was an awkward moment of her just standing there not acting. It was definitely weird where she knew that she had to put him down, but being granted such an opportunity like this is insanely bizarre.
Though caught in a strange convenience, she held up her rifle. Aiming it perfectly at his head she shakingly pressed down her index finger onto the trigger. A bullet blasted off and sailed right to him, stopping right before it would’ve collided. It floated in the air and he opened his eyes but there weren't any pupils filling the middle, only a white void.
In a brief second the flash of white overtook her vision and a huge wave of force blew off, destroying everything around it. Brentha got blasted backwards, only being saved by clinging onto the ground, digging her fingernails into the floorboards. Slowly being pushed off the edge and then at the end where she inevitably fell off.
Quickly she grabbed onto the remnants of the ledge, forcing her to drop the rifle to use both of her arms to support her weight. Clouds of dust and smoke filled the surrounding area and debris crashed down onto the ground below. She took a peek down the realization of how high up she was hit her and gave her the encouragement to drag her body back to the top.
Out of breath she used the sudden adrenaline rush to pull back onto solid ground. Uff snapped back to reality from his entranced stipulation. Being enraged as he slammed the ground in front of him.
“Who the fuck did that!?” He looked around frantically in a frenzy.
Spotting Brentha getting back to her feet covered in dust. Eyes squinting with metaphorical fire in his pupils sparking. Standing up he was an intensely ominous figure looming over her in weight, height, and just outright muscle. The way he kind of blended in with the looming smoke, leaving an intimidating shadowed outline.
She eyed him, trembling where she stood. Her gaze darted down to the ground where she detected the packet of blood on the floor. Without hesitation she lunged toward it, basically diving for it as she hit the ground. Grasping it immediately and then scrambling around to get back up.
“You bitch!” Uff started chasing.
With the bag clenched in her palms, she tried going over to the original exit but debris blocked her path and with Uff right on her tail she went back over to the edge, trying to see if there was anything to jump down to.
Right below her was an awning that was a few feet down, then right below it was a roof that she could land on right after. With having no other good option in the already limited she was granted, she lept right off.
The explosion at the office went off, causing Fringerly to look up right at with debris coming down towards him. Some pieces of stone plopped down and crashed around them. He covered his head and backed up to get out of the way.
Shug covered his head as well as some pebbles dribbled down from the wall drooping off of his hands. When the initial explosion stopped and all of the wreckage seemed to have stopped falling, Fringerly looked up to the office when a stray rifle from above struck his face.
The gun broke into multiple shattered pieces as he fell to the ground. Screaming out in pain as his nose broke, blood flooding out. His face bloodied up as he scornfully looked at Shug.
He desperately felt the ground around him trying to pick up the rifle he just dropped from getting hit. Shug hadn’t really realized that it happened as he still cowered up on the wall, not knowing that the debris stopped raining down.
When finally landing his hands on the gun he picked it right back up as he struggled a bit to get back up. Trying his best to smear the blood off of his nose only making it worse and just rubbing it all over making his face a bloody mess.
Raising his rifle again he finally was able to take a shot but just as soon as he was going to, he heard another loud sound from above. Looking to where it generated from, he spotted Brentha sliding down the roof tiles. Jumping off just before it dropped down below, directly heading towards him.
She braced for impact as she collided with Fringerly, collapsing him to the ground. He basically broke her fall, breaking some of his bones and causing his rifle to be dropped yet again.
Shug looked up as he saw her on top of him. Getting up as he grunted in pain swearing constantly under his breath.
“Brentha?” He questioned.
When she got up she turned back to him. “Shug! I got the blood!” She held up the packet to him.
He finally stopped cowering and excitedly jumped up. “Hell yeah!”
She smiled but it didn’t last as she looked right back up, seeing Uff following her path. Bolting out to a sprint she turned back to look at Shug. “I’m heading to the ship!” She quickly blurted out before disappearing from sight as she exited the area.
Uff came crashing down right on top of Fringerly, completely eviscerating his body into an even bloodier mess. Crushing his torso into the ground killed him instantly with blood squirting out. All over his feet, barely giving it another look or even noticing what happened as he zones in on Brentha.
Some of the blood droplets landed right on Shug’s face as he squinted and blocked the gruesome view away with his hand. Uff didn’t look back at him as he followed right after her.
When he also disappeared from view, Shug took initiative and ran to Fringerly’s mangled body to pick up the rifle he lost. Seeing the horrifying carcass trying his best not to vomit, ignoring it and going after Uff.
Distract him! Just get him to focus on you, cause another distraction, you figured it out earlier you can do it now! For Brentha! For Hillanter!
46Please respect copyright.PENANA6tgsfVAGp3
Xinder's attention alerted to the explosion, unsheathing his sword in an instinctive defensive position. Multiple pieces of debris crumbled down upon him, having to dodge a bunch of the pieces of stone.
Shanta slowly rotated her body to see it. Still having blood pool out onto the ground around her, with the constant stinging pain lingering on her stomach and back. Her vision honed in on him, as she began squinting.
She impressively got onto all fours as she desperately tried to crawl backwards to get to safety. Moving only a mere few inches back only to flop back down on the ground. Grunting as she barely lifted her head up slightly to still see Xinder looking up at the blast.
She planted her hands on the ground and tried again to pull herself up but her body grew weaker and with plenty of struggle, arms wiggling and shaking as she couldn’t physically do it. Her body was losing more blood than she could reasonably expend. If she didn’t get medical attention soon, she was going to die. Faltering back down slumped, she just kept staring at him.
This might be it
She thought in her head as she gave off a smirk, coughing as she did.
Left out to bleed out on a dirty wooden floor. Couldn't even beat some dumb soldier.
Tears swelled up in her eyes and she could do nothing to wipe them away. Letting them flow out and dribbling down her cheek. Even though she was crying her smile stood strong for some reason. There was no other feeling like it, happy and sad all at the same time. A unique one that punctuates more when you’re on the verge of death.
If I’m going out, then I’ll try with a boom. Mom said that herself.
She closed her eyes and focused really hard to cast one final spell before her body gave up. Trying to replicate the big lightning bolt that she casted at the island. Or trying to get one big enough to kill Xinder instantly.
That’s when a sudden rush of euphoria and warmness flowed through her. Like she just tucked herself into a cozy blanket on a soft mattress. Her hair being stroked by an invisible force. It was like her body was transported back in time when she was a child, being put to bed by her mother.
Opening her eyes she didn’t see the battlefield, only a blinding light that was obscuring everything. A hand reached out from the light but she couldn’t even tell who it was since it was only the shadow coming at her.
It grasped her face and coddled it, giving her chin a little scratch. Right after that she suddenly snapped back into reality where she felt a huge surge of power pump through her body and without any warning a huge lightning bolt struck Xinder.
The bolt was so powerful that it caused his whole body to electrocute and fry up and lit on fire. He screamed out in agony as he dropped to the floor, rolling on the ground trying to put himself off. But no matter how much he tried it seems that the blaze would not stop, like it was constantly being kept on by an invisible force.
His last little squeaks of his screams faded out as his body went limp and his body still burned until there was nothing but a charred corpse left on the ground. His skin coal black and his face becoming unrecognizable, it was like a skeleton.
The whole sight was horrifying and Shanta had no clue how it even happened, everything just happened in an instant and Xinder burned to death way faster than what should’ve occurred naturally. It all felt like it was under a minute.
All of that woke her up and she couldn’t really feel her injuries but they were still there. But it was like she was given morphine to deal with the pain. Blood still seeped out and she could confidently put her hands over her stomach slash to contain the bleeding.
The cargo lift behind her lowered down again but it seemed to work properly as it descended at a normal speed. She expected more soldiers to come up from the bottom so she tried her best to crawl away from it before it rose to the surface.
Even with her wounds feeling numb they still prevented her from moving as quickly as she wanted to, staggering and collapsing constantly. It wasn’t close to fast enough to escape whoever was rising up.
She gave up and laid back down on her back to look at the cargo lift, the trail of blood following her, which even if she did leave line of sight she wouldn’t have fully escaped.
Shockingly it wasn’t any soldiers, instead only one person. Zunci was standing there looking completely exhausted and sweaty, her hair ragged with some dust building up in it like a nest.
“Who the hell built this place!” She exclaimed out loud. “The whole place feels like a labyrinth.” She then turned around and saw Shanta on the ground bleeding. “Oh my god!” She came sprinting over.
Sliding on her knees she put her hands over Shanta’s wound. “What happened?” She worryingly asked.
“Little scuffle.” She jokingly responded.
“I know I said to keep high spirits but this is not the time to fool around. Where’s Jin? He needs to check on you.”
“I think he might be around, just. Ooo did it get chilly or is that just me?” Shanta’s eyes widened with worry.
“You’re losing way too much blood, ummm.” She applied more pressure onto her wound. “Fuck! I wish I knew more medical stuff.” She started to scold herself.
“There’s another wound on my back.” She tried to point to where it was.
“Oh god, I need Jin! Where the hell is he? Jin!” She started to call out to him.
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Anften held his fist up while he watched the debris all fall to the ground. His hands shook with anger as he aggressively gritted his teeth rumbling. “What the fuck are the others doing!?” He angrily shouted out. “They were supposed to-”
His voice was cut off as he got shot right in the side of the head. Blowing his brains out all over Yunga, losing hold of her, she dropped to the ground with the body. Jinlin stood there with his rifle pointing with smoke billowing out of the barrel.
Yunga still was in immense pain but she wasn’t screaming anymore as her body got used to it, though still being agonizingly tough to handle. Jinlin ran over pushing the corpse out of the way. He whipped out his bag and pulled out a bunch of medical supplies.
“Tell me where it hurts.” He asked, still digging through his bag.
“Everywhere!” She blurted out.
“Ok then.” He pulled out a needle with a syringe. “Morphine for now but you may have some fractured bones, and some heavy bruising judging by all of the hits. You can still move your arms and legs right?”
“Yes, yes. My back is the one thing that’s fucking killing me.” She quickly responded as she continued to constantly grunt and whine.
He injected the needle into her thigh and pressed the liquid into her bloodstream. The pain soothed through her and she could finally relax.
“Can you roll over on your stomach?” He put the needle back into his bag.
“I’ll try.” She forcibly moved her body and she flopped over on her stomach with a grunt.
“I’ll try my best to see where exactly you hurt? Are you feeling a sharp, throbbing, or burning pain?” He placed his fingers along her spine.
“Sharp pain right down my spine.” She responded.
“I’m not feeling any breaks or fractures. I think from the kick in the back might’ve pinched a nerve or severely bruised you. Might be both but it’s nothing serious. He actually might’ve hit multiple nerves. You’ll need ice and rest with you just laying down.” He concluded. “Your face though.” He saw her bloodied face. “Are you sure nothing’s severely hurt there?”
“Honestly I can barely feel my cheeks.” She said.
“Shit, I’ll have to-” Getting cut off by a huge bolt of lightning that was just as loud as the explosion. It caught everyone else off guard, or what was left of the battle. The sounds of gunfire and other stuff dwindled as the minutes flew by.
“Shanta?” Yunga questioned.
“That was her? Are you sure?” He inquired further.
“Has to be. They don’t have a mage either, right?”
"Not that I read in any report.”
“I’m still worried about the others?” He was packing his bag back up.
“I believe in them.” She smiled. “If we survived surely they-”
“Jinlin!” A familiar voice yelled out.
“Zunci!” Yunga tried to get up but it was still painful.
“Do you need help getting up?” He asked as he shot up to his feet in an instant.
“Don’t worry about me, just get to them now!” She commanded.
“Are you-”
“Go! I’ll be fine!”
“Ok, ok.” He stumbled backwards a little and ran over to where the yell was coming from, just beyond the wall that separated them. Yunga just laid there on the ground.
Jinlin swiftly turned the corner and spotted Shanta on the ground bleeding profusely with Zunci coddling her like a baby. She saw him and her eyes lit up.
“Jin! Shanta’s bleeding out!” She quickly explained.
Without any further comments he slid over and quickly got out his stitching equipment. Zunci pointed out her wounds and he had to perform immediate treatment. It was tense for ten minutes as he carefully stitched the wounds together, cleaning it as well to prevent infection.
After all of that was done Jinlin was sweating and sighed with relief as he packed back up his tools. Zunci watched as she held onto Shanta’s hand tightly as all of it happened.
“She should be fine for now, I’ve prevented the bleeding but I don’t know exactly how much damage she sustained.” He shared. “Shanta? Can you get up or move a part of your body?”
“I can try to.” She replied.
“Zunci, help me get her to her feet.” He directed.
She didn;t say anything back as they held her arms and she put her weight on them as she miraculously got to her feet, her wounds still stinging. Gritting her teeth gave off a little hiss of pain. She slowly moved her legs, limping as she did but she could move around.
“I can walk. Kind of.” She said as she limped forward with the support.
“Ok, good. We need to get you to the ship. Along with Yunga.” He advised.
“What happened to her?” Zunci concerningly asked.
“Her back is messed up, she's just behind this wall/.” Explained Jinlin. “Where’s Brentha and Shug?”
“Brentha went up ahead to Uff’s office.” Shanta replied.
“That might explain the explosion.”
“Oh, god. I hope she made it out.” Zunci added on. “Wait, holy shit Shug.”
“What happened?” Jinlin inquired.
“We were fighting this soldier guy and I was able to sneak up on him and stab him. But he kicked me into a cellar and I had to get out but it took fucking forever with the twisting hallways. But Shug was left up there alone. He should have won but I didn't know he was shaking with fear and freaking out.”
“I told him that was going to happen.” Shanta butted in.
“Now’s not the time for that.” Zunci annoyingly refuted. “I was able to calm him down, I need to check on him.”
“Shanta, stay here I’m going to get Yunga. Zunci, go after Shug and try to look for Brentha while you’re at it.” He planned out. “Look at Li as well. He shouldn’t be that hard to spot.”
“Got it, got it-”
After they both had a game plan another huge blast came from the docks. With their ship being the main source of it. A bright white light beamed out blinding so many that even glanced at it. It was hard to see what was happening but Jinlin already came to a conclusion.
“We need to get off this island.” He announced.
“What?” Zunci gave him a confused look.
“Go get everyone else now!” He shouted.
“On it!” She bolted out into a sprint.
46Please respect copyright.PENANAtG2fazkqC5
Brentha moved out of the storage area not looking back coming across a bay area. This is where the majority of the firepower comes from, an uncountable amount of gunfire being spewed out. The slaves were on one side behind boxes with the soldiers on the other side. Leaving a huge gap in the middle like no man’s land.
Assessing the situation she bolted over to the slaves side and weaved through the Purks, bumping into some and whooshing right by them. Uff came right after her, spotting her in the crowd after losing her for only a little bit.
Before he could begin the chase again, Li came jumping down from above clawing at him with a monstrous roar. He dodged it and Li was indeed right in front of him. Lunging right back at him with his fists. Even though being comparably smaller in size he was confidently throwing punches.
Hitting Li directly in the face he swung right back, but Uff ducked underneath him. He tackled right into him, hitting him right in the stomach. It staggered him just a bit but it was enough time for Uff to slip right by him.
Li tried desperately to grab him but he was already long gone, sprinting along his troops completely ignoring all of the gunfire going on. Some of the soldiers turned to point their guns at him and he dove right into cover.
Shug came running up, also running into cover alongside Li. Rubbing up against his soft fur that was coerced in smoke and dirt.
“Shug!?” Li looked surprised. “I’m glad you survived that grenade.”
“Me too. Brentha got the blood. Did you see Uff come by?” He asked.
“I just tried to intercept him but he was too quick for me to keep up with.”
“Any time is good enough. Please Brentha just get there in time. I believe in you.” Shug closed his eyes and prayed.
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Brentha reached the ship and tripped multiple times over her own feet getting onto the deck. Dropping the blood on the ground she quickly gathered it back up after scrambling back on her legs. Jumping down the stairs she saw Hillanter’s body and ran to the paper nailed to the wall.
All of the components for the ritual were laid right alongside his body on the table. She looked at the paper and all of the steps for it were simple to follow and understand.
In the cup provided, pour the blood and the juice of the mushroom into it and swirl it around for a few seconds until it becomes a yellow hue. Then pour it over the infected chest, after dumping all of it, rub it in a little. After all of that is done, take the knife and plunge it into the chest. As soon as you do that it should complete the ritual, results should be immediate.
With all of that in consideration she grabbed the cup, tore open the packet of blood pouring it in. After all of the droplets were drained, she grabbed the mushroom and squeezed all of the juice out of it.
When all of it was into the cup she swirled it around until it mixed together for a dark yellow. She unbuttoned Hillanter’s vest to expose his hairy chest. She turned the container upside down and poured the concoction on it.
Every drop flowed down until the cup was completely empty. She took her palm and rubbed it in quickly. As soon as she was done with the second to final step a huge thud came from above her. Uff had finally reached the ship with approaching footsteps coming into the living quarters.
With no more time to lose she took the knife wrapped in vines and held it up high over Hillanter. Nervous shaking hands, her heart swelled up and she gulped.
“Please let this work.” She gave out some final words before she plunged the knife deep into his chest.
When the blade fully impaled him the vines from the knife dug deep into his skin and Hillanter’s eyes opened for the first time in a few days. Then a huge wave of force blew apart the entire ship and her ears got blasted with a loud noise.
The whole ship basically disintegrated. But she was being held up above the ocean that she would’ve fallen into. Uff got launched off the ship and onto the dock, watching the whole scene play out.
Hillanter was grabbing Brentha’s dress, preventing her from dipping into the cold water. He was looking at her with eyes that were not his. But he had an evil looking smile on his face.
Uff looked up at him and his expression dropped into deep panic. “No!” He shouted out. “Fuck!”
Hillanter turned around to see him, letting his smile continue on curving off into a cheeky shape. He turned back to Brentha. “I got to thank you. Brentha.” A whole different voice from Hillanter’s came out, it was a strikingly deep voice that echoed within itself. “The second person in history to unleash me. I must commend you. It’s been at least a century since I was able to let loose. For that, I’ll spare you.”
Brentha was just nodding along, too scared to even raise her voice or even pronounce a single syllable. “Just don’t hurt my friends.” She managed to squeak out.
“No promises.”46Please respect copyright.PENANAWeInMKyUB4