Chương 21: Skydart III

BOOOOOM! A giant cloud of dust formed at the newly formed crater. Tremors spread across the forest. Rodents scattered away, birds took off into the air. Even the insects burrowed deep. As the dust settled, the Skydart could be seen snapping its head from side to side. Its left wing was bent in the wrong direction, and streams of blood trickled throughout its body. The Skydart's movements didn't slow. Each snap of its head was more aggressive, each time its pupils moved more snappy.

"Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding!" The muffled chimes continued. Soon, its eyes landed on Bremin. He had been able to jump out of the most dangerous zone, but the impact had caused him to fall backwards. With his remaining strength, Bremin got back on his feet once more. He wasn't even a meter away from the bird, fully within striking distance, but his muscles refused to obey his commands. The beast ahead of him wasted no time and reeled back its head.

Bremin's vision was wavy, and the world around him lost it's sharpness. His mind was numb, and the world boiled down to his own body, and the incoming attack. A lunge. No… beak attack. Bremin could hardly command his body, he didn't have his sword. A direct hit would kill him. Rotate. He shifted his body to the right as the beak rushed towards him. Then, he managed a slight rotation. The beak slammed into him violently, piercing a hole through his shoulder. Like a ragdoll, his body launched into the distance.

His consciousness waned, as his body soared through the air. SLAM! A looming darkwood tree interrupted his flight, as his back slammed directly into the tree, causing the bark to splinter. His body slumped down, laying among the roots. A soft wheeze was all he could manage as he tried controlling his breathing. He pushed his hands into the ground with anything he could scrounge up from within him, but his hands gave away and he fell back on his chest. Lying flat, and unable to move, Bremin watched the Skydart.

It was also wavering. It had sustained more injuries yet again from the crash combined with all the previous injuries it was surely on its last legs. However, the hatred in its eyes persisted as it kept its eyes on Bremin. Dragging itself with its good wing and one working claw, it crawled towards Bremin.

"DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING!" The Skydart's reaction was immediate and violent as the relentless chimes rang out. It let out a fractured cry thrashing its head side to side, in a desperate, frantic motion as if trying to physically shake off the sound. For a moment, the muffling dome flickered.

The sounds of the world returned for a second before the dome quickly returned. Then, the Skydart disappeared. And along with it, the grey dome. The air rushed to fill the gap left by the enormous beast. Like a ragdoll, Bremin got pulled into space, as his body slammed the ground once more. He lay flat on his back, facing the orange skies above. The rustle of the trees, the chirping of the crickets, the hymns of the distant birds had all returned.

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"DING DING DING DING DING!" Above the crater of the Skydart's first crash, a bell floated just a meter above the pit. An illusory hand, Eth shook the bell back and forward vigorously as Evel observed from the bushes a few meters away. The muffling dome flickered, then disappeared. Evel tensed his body. A few meters above Eth, space warped. The air expanded rapidly, a massive gust of wind pushed outwards.

The bell, along with Eth, slammed into the bottom of the crater from the gust, as the space above was filled by the familiar, giant, Skydart. The bell shattered on impact, a spray of bronze shards lost in the burst of Energy as Eth's form detonated. Nearby, Evel lay coiled in the brush, fighting to hold in his scream. This had been the first time his connection with Eth had been forcefully ripped away.

A whirl of drills pierced into his mind as he held his mouth shut, but a small squeal still exited, now no longer muffled. High above, the Skydart appeared and its head snapped to Evel's squeals, but it didn't redirect to land on Evel. Rather, it couldn't. Its body was a mangled mess, as it plummeted down. The air itself seemed to scream under the pressure of the dive. When it struck, the earth buckled, the force of the blow carving the crater even deeper into the wounded ground.

A pained guttural sound rumbled from the heart of the crater. Picking himself up, Evel limped quickly over to the edge of the crater; his wound on his foot had reopened. His clothes were battered, and new holes covered his pants. If his face wasn't visible, he would look like a tattered broken man. But defeat didn't show on his face. With a crooked grin which showed through his clenched teeth, Evel's eyes landed on the beast below him. Its body lay flat on the ground.

Large streams of blood flowed out of its wings, as it lay unmoving in the hole. The deep groans continued. Slowly, the beast regained its sense, as it weakly raised its head. It saw a man in battered clothes staring it down, crossbow in hand. Evel looked down on the beast. It was formidable. Its teleportation was unexpected, and wreaked havoc on the group. Yet in the end, they survived and the beast was on its last legs below his feet. The Skydart stared at Evel, the fury persisted.

It was as if it knew Evel had caused the noise. It was furious. But it couldn't move. Its bones had been completely shattered, and had no Energy for anymore teleports. Evel's crooked grin widened. The Skydart opened its mouth to screech at Evel but now, only a weak noise came out. The intimidating beast no longer looked so scary. Evel held its gaze as he aimed the crossbow. It had once used its size and weight to crush them, now it was trapped in the crater unable to escape because of it.

Evel squeezed the trigger, releasing the bolt directly into the throat of the dying bird. Its head slammed the dirt one, final time. It wouldn't rise again. The three of them had killed it. Evel pushed his body to his limits to reload the crossbow once more, then collapsed onto the dirt. Light footsteps approached from behind him.

"A bell?" Diana approached Evel and peeked into the crater beside him.

"When you're weak, you learn to take advantage of every little advantage," Evel weakly explained.

"I went through its behaviour… only time it seemed to act irrationally was with the crows." Evel paused.

"I wouldn't have been much help fighting it directly, so I figured I'd give it a shot." He hadn't been sure it would work, but in hindsight it seemed obvious. The muffling dome was a hint, but the main reason was how intelligent the bird seemed to act. And the only time it threw that rationality away, was when it completely lost it against the repetitive cawing of the crows. Diana nodded.

"You hurt?"

"Nothing permanent, my foot started bleeding again. A bunch of bruises across my body but I'll be mostly running again with some food and sleep. You? Bremin?"

"Just some scratches." Diana paused, as her eyes wandered to the location of Bremin.

"Bremin on the other hand looks like he's received an invitation to the afterlife. He was flung around a whole bunch and you can see the ground through his shoulder." She turned back and met Evel's gaze. He couldn't read the expression in her eyes.

"Do you know what his ability does? Something to help him heal, I hope?"

"No idea." Evel pushed himself back on his feet, releasing a groan in pain. He took one last look at the Skydart resting in the crater, before turning towards the clearing. With a soft smile, Evel turned to Diana.

"I'll need some help." Diana wrapped one of Evel's arms around her shoulder as they made their way to Bremin. Evel held his loaded crossbow close. Bremin lay flat on the ground a few meters into the forest from the clearing, motionless. His body lay on roots damp in his own blood. His eyes were open, facing the sky, showing no sign of emotion, but the rigid breathing betrayed his body's condition. With the help of Diana, Evel approached him.

"Cook the bird." A simple, curt command, before Bremin turned to silence once more. Evel pursed his lips, he had eaten with Bremin a few times, and his appetite had always impressed him. Even when he lay here, his entire body destroyed, his priority was food. Evel sat down beside Bremin, leaning back against the closest tree. He ignored the deathly aura. They were outdoors, and Evel had slowly gotten resistant to it.

"We'll have to rely on you, Diana." The words were polite, but his eyes remained focused, and his finger on the trigger. Diana ignored him, and addressed Bremin instead.

"Will you recover?"

"Six hours."

"What?"

"Six hours sleep." Diana squinted her eyes showing a sense of doubt. Evel didn't fully believe it either, six hours of sleep for that gaping wound to close seemed fantastical. But Bremin wouldn't lie about something like that. Diana turned to Evel, holding his gaze firmly. A mysterious smile.

"I always repay my debts." With this cryptic message, she ran off into the distance, busying herself to prepare food for the group. Evel let out a deep sigh of relief as he dropped his crossbow to his side. It seemed he wouldn't need it. Bremin was out of commission and he wasn't in great shape either. The only person doing more or less okay was Diana. Had she wanted to betray them, this would have been her perfect opportunity, killing a bird, and two fellow recruits with one stone.

Thankfully, she had chosen not to. Evel wasn't sure if it was because she had gotten closer to them, or saw a bright future ahead with them, but her message didn't clear anything up. Repay her debts? A threat? An appreciation? Or was she just messing with him? Worrying about it now wouldn't change anything, so he relaxed his shoulders and turned to Bremin. A true, heartfelt smile grew on his face. Bremin had survived; they all had survived.