Chương 156: Arc 3 - Chapter 28

Blue-silver light flashed like lightning, and the night was lit up in bright contrast. From where Fritz stood he could see a great jagged fissure split the base of the Mer Spire. It was brilliant, blazing, casting stark shadows as the crack widened. Dark shapes spewed from the opening, and croaking calls, warcries, carved through the quiet. Bells rang, adding to the clamour. A squad of drizzlers, following some long-observed protocol, ran down the street, ordering the populace to stay in or return to their homes.

The alarm had been raised and soon the Scale Guard would bound into action supported by the Storm Guard and any Climber willing to risk their life in defence of the city. There were always some such maniacs. Fritz stood there in conflict with himself. His first instinct was to find his family. He needed to run to the orphanage and help any of the forces there. But he also wanted to return home, find Bert and gather his team. They would be stronger together and should be able to weather the Break.

Though that also depended on how perilous the beasts pouring forth proved to be. If they were simple man-alikes they could be easily dispatched and if they were eels or sharks they would barely be a problem, as they would drown in the open air. Unless they happened to be something like the slippery sand sharks Fritz and his crew had encountered before. However, those booming croaks dissuaded him of the notion that they were anything of the sort.

What Fritz needed was knowledge and the path to the orphanage would take him right past the Spire. If he went that way he would be able to catch a glimpse of the monstrous invaders, while also bringing him closer to his siblings. It was decided then. Fritz found his way to the rooftops and cloaked as he was in dusk, he began to run and leap. The buildings were taller here than in the districts. The tiles and stone were well-maintained and more uniform.

They were only too easy to traverse, and with Fritz's skill, their roofs amounted to roads. He drew closer to the Spire and below him, in a canal, a squad of nine Scale Guard swept by. A small hill of water preceded them, and they rode the smooth wave, standing on its surface or swimming in the surge as it flooded toward the Break. It was the first time Fritz had seen such a thing, he paused for just a moment, watching their green-clad forms speed by.

From what he could tell, one of the squad was the one controlling the wave, perhaps an Ability or Trait, while the others used other Powers, and now that he noticed it, Patterns, to allow themselves to move swiftly with the rapid, rolling wave without intense effort. Their armament Treasures were drawn, spears, swords and axes at the ready to meet their foes, and mete out their justice. Fritz shook his head and chided himself for his distraction.

As much as he wanted to see how the Scale Guard fought and how his own Powers stood in comparison, he hadn't the luxury of time. In fact, the road of roofs broke here and he was forced onto the streets again, onto a bridge to cross the canal before he could retake his place on high above. He ran, and the croaking calls grew louder, closer. Another jump, another dash, then he saw the beasts. Through the light rain and the dark, there loomed tall figures, at least his own height and thrice as wide.

They were hunched, bumpy-skinned creatures, with yellow, bulbous eyes and wide lipless mouths. They stood, hopped, on two long legs, ending in wide feet with three, splayed, webbed toes. Some held primitive spears of bone in their thick, slimy fists. Though some seemed content to carry no weapons, relying instead on the wicked, curled nails at the end of their three fingered hands, just as malformed as the rest of their warty flesh.

The closest comparison he could conjure was that of a grotesque amalgamation of a toad and a man. They croaked, their throats distending disgustingly as they did. Disturbingly, they could jump over high walls and even reach the roofs with ease, as Fritz soon discovered. One toad-man-alike landed just six yards to his left with a wet thud. Thankfully it didn't notice him, but seeing it up close really reinforced the disparity between him and the monsters' size.

He had misjudged in the gloom and rain, the thing had to be two feet taller than himself. Its foul eyes roamed the streets for prey, and the other beasts below slammed into barred doors, or iron-banded windows. Wards flared, light, fire, lightning, blasts of steam and searing acid cascaded through the street as the beasts assaulted stores and homes. Notably, many of the protections in place failed to activate.

Establishments Fritz knew were warded from just a glance thanks to his Awareness and recent study of Wardbreaking, were broken into without magical resistance. There were yells and screams being added to the croaking clamour, those of the inhabitants of the Upper Ring. Fritz felt a prick of sympathy, but he wasn't about to assault the thirty-strong swarm of the monsters, not alone. Still, the creature close by was alone and he could end its life without alerting the others.

Silently, Fritz drew Mortal edge, creeping to the beast's bump-ridden back. He realised soon, that while his dagger was long, it would not be nearly long enough to pierce both the monster's thick hide and reach its integral innards. He slid the dagger back into its sheath and pulled free Quicksilver instead, glad he had made the choice to keep his blade with him at all times. Fritz was crouched low and he made his way closer, he was barely two feet from the beast.

He took Quicksilver's grip in both hands and listened for the beat of the creature's horrid heart. He could hear it, it was a thick syrupy thud, but he could also catch the note of something else, a deeper drum, the music of Grace. He seized upon this chance to dance to its tune and struck in time with that beat, stepping forward and plunging his sword into slimy, stubborn flesh. It should have been harder, the rubbery muscle should have slowed his blade, but dancing as he was, it was easy.

It was like slipping a needle through cloth, and soon Quicksilver was hilt deep in the beast, skewering, stilling its heart in less than a second. The toad's constant, low croaking ceased and its legs gave way. Moving to the tune of Grace, Fritz slid backwards as the beast toppled off the roof's edge. The body hit the street with a splash, which caused croaks of alarm. Another leapt on top of the building where Fritz still stood.

It was the only one though, and as suddenly as it was on the roof it turned to look into the street, distracted by the sound of rushing water. A wave crashed over the rear of the toads below, and flying out of that water were the Scale Guard. Soaring through the air like leaping sharks, they loosed sprays and bolts of water, knives of ice and one air blast, then landed amongst the bombarded beasts and began to slaughter them.

The water-aligned Abilities did little good against the toads' hides, something their Captain noticed immediately.

"Water resistant!" The man's voice called, as he swung an axe the colour of clover and hacked the arm off a toad with one precise blow.

"Force resistant!" Another voice called. The guard's stone hammer had bounced off a beast's skull, only dazing the creature rather than shattering its skull.

"Switch to blades!" The man ordered, ducking under a hurled spear. She spun, dispatching another monster with a wide slash that split its belly, pouring out its entrails onto the cobbled stone. While this was happening Fritz fled from the toad nearest him, dropping down into the street and using every shadow and alcove to stay out sight and out of the fight. Watching only when he had to stop and hide for more than a moment.

The battle continued and although the Scale Guard were skilled and powerful, felling one toad after another with blade and magic, more beasts joined the fray and they were soon surrounded. With the arrival of more foes so too did a thick mist seep into the streets. It swirled and lingered around the legs for the moment, but was steadily creeping higher. Fritz continued moving, dashing past the encirclement, across the foggy street that was littered with the corpses of the toad beasts and their crude weapons.

His legs ached from the numbing cold of the mist, and he could feel there was something off about it, it was unnatural, suffused with mana, likely an Ability that one of the toads possessed. Perhaps it was the power of their Aberrant Chieftain, or maybe some other variant of the beasts before him, a toad mist mage or some other horror. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

All he knew was that Breaks were always accompanied by an Aberrant, sometimes more in the very worst of cases. In the distance, between Fritz and the surrounded Scale Guard, the Storm Guard mustered and prepared to charge. He ignored their rallying call and continued to move, slinking towards an alley. Unfortunately, it was occupied by a big bastard of a toad warrior and he had to duck under a thrown spear.

It whistled over his head and he wondered how the beast had seen him, but then realised the strike wasn't for him at all as it bounced off the breastplate of a drizzler sergeant out in the street behind him. As there was no room to slip by the beast, Fritz decided to leave the alley and take to the roofs again. Just in time. The toad leapt forward and Fritz dodged by a hair. The monster's bulk whooshed past and into the onrushing drizzlers.

Fritz gripped the stone ahead of him and climbed, glancing over his shoulder at the mayhem. Croaks, gurgles and the clatter of bone on steel rang through the rainy right. Yell, and shouts abounded as the drizzlers lent their aid to their besieged betters. The storm guard were hastily beaten back, the horde of toads more than their match. Men were crushed by bounding leaps, torn apart by cruel nails and bitten by those terribly wide mouths, three rows of needle-like teeth flaying flesh with ease.

"This is a bad Break!" One of the Scale Guard shouted between strikes.

"The gutter guards are getting butchered!"

"Storm guard retreat!" The Scale Guard Captain ordered. They were eager to oblige, breaking from the battle, carrying their wounded away where they could.

"Sir Cold, report!"

"Bad! Very Bad!" Quinn Cold yelled.

"Vote! Activate the Crisis Rune!?" The Captain cried, cleaving the legs from under a toad. Fritz kept climbing, he was halfway up, there was a litany of screamed 'aye's. All were in agreement so the Captain seized upon a pendant hanging from her neck and tore it away. A flash of bright silver light spilled from the rune, and she tossed it into the sky, where it lit up like a falling star.

However, it wasn't falling, it streaked into the air with a whine and upon soaring to a point hundreds of feet about their heads it hovered, sparking and burning. The rain glittered and the whole area was illuminated as if it were day. Panting, Fritz finally pulled his way up onto the roof and looked down for a moment. He saw a familiar face. Sergeant Louisa was hauling a man who was missing an arm, it having been torn off and eaten by a toad.

He also saw a toad-man-alike that was eyeing her and the rest of the man hungrily. Its long, warty tongue lashed out like a squid's tentacle, and despite them being five yards away, it stuck to her back. Then it was pulled taut. She lurched, then was dragged off her feet, hurtling towards the toad's open maw. Reflexively, Fritz wove Lethargy over the beast, then, imbuing a throwing dagger with gloom strike, he threw.

The point plunged into the toad's eye which popped, spattering the woman below with a glob of foul fluid. The beast staggered, its tongue slackened. Louisa bounced off its chest and after falling stumbled to her feet. The toad let out a high whine, grasping at the bloody hole that was its eye socket. Fritz didn't know why he risked even this small action, for a drizzler no less. Especially now that he noticed that there was no shadow to hide in, his Cloak of Dusk rendered useless by the star overhead.

The woman glanced up to where he stood and he spared her a smirk, her eyes lit with surprise, but she quickly turned her attention to the beast before her. It leapt at her, swiping wildly and snapping its jaws. Louisa held up an open hand and the toad's limbs snapped to its body mid-jump. She rolled to the side, the beast missed her by inches and slammed on the cobblestones. Then its mighty arms broke whatever magic held them fast. Another star sped toward the sky, distracting Fritz from the fight below.

This bright mote came from near the Mer Spire. But he had no time to dwell on that. Something slimy struck him on the shoulder and instinctively he tried to spin out of its grip. He failed, the rope of bumpy flesh was stuck to him like glue. The tongue pulled on him and he unsheathed Mortal Edge and stabbed. It was springy and spongy, and the blade stuck in the all-too-tough cord. Though he had weakened the tongue's strength he was still yanked off the roof.

While he fell he activated his barrier ring, it softened his landing, the invisible armour dissipating with a hum as he struck the stony ground, then rolled to his feet. Without further delay, he lunged for the beast still attached to him by its tongue, drawing Quicksilver and tearing free his dagger. He conjured his Illusory Shadow over the toad's head and sank both his blades in its chest as it swiped at him blindly. The beast thrashed, swinging its twisted claws at him.

He ducked and tried to pull his weapons from its body, only to find one was stuck. His sword was lodged somewhere in the toad's rib cage, but his dagger slipped out easily. He wasn't about to abandon Quicksilver so he stabbed again, then again, and again. In and out in a flurry of swift, simple motions as he wrestled with the creature to wrest his sword from the foul prison of its flesh. A tiny tremor rolled over his Sanctum, but he ignored it.

Quick as a whip, the beast found him and grabbed him, lifting him effortlessly. Fritz's Danger Sense wracked him with the pain of being crushed. He kept stabbing as he struggled against the powerful grasp, to no avail. Great gouts of blood spilled from all the gaping holes he had poked into the toad's lumpy torso, but the toad squeezed him close, squashing him against the mess of wounds, smothering him. The toad's heart pounded in his ears.

Its awful lukewarm, flesh was slimy and a rotted-fish stench filled his nose. The pressure of the hold grew tighter, his bones creaked in truth and Fritz redoubled his efforts to pull away. His Sanctum rippled again as he kept on stabbing with Mortal Edge and fighting the beast's steadily weakening grip. The false pain faded suddenly as the toad fell onto its back dead or dying, however, the real pain persisted as bone-deep aches.

He ignored this as he did the tremors in his Sanctum and the dim roaring that was not the rain. Fritz spun, searching the street around him, the Scale Guard were still surrounded but holding firm against the beasts, hacking them down one after another. The drizzlers were nowhere to be seen, save Louisa. She was standing and staring around blearily, one hand cradling her head. The roaring grew louder and louder, the corpse at Fritz's feet twitched.

He stepped away from it and into a shadowed alcove, safe from the vulgar light from above. From there, he turned to the growing roar, to the source of rising dread. He'd heard something like it before, when the archives drowned, and was not surprised to see the great wave rushing towards them. What he was surprised by was its shape and height, it was as tall as the tallest building yet only as wide as the street they stood in. Dark shapes swirled within the oncoming wave, tossed about as if they were in some storm.

There both humans and toads spinning, along with dropped weapons and other washed-up debris. Sparing only one regretful glance to Louisa, Fritz ran, sprinting back into the alley and as far as he could from the terribly rapid, and rapidly terrible, torrent. His escape was not to be, water poured down the alley in a great frothing tide and caught him before he had time to scale the dead end he found himself facing.

Remembering a past predicament of the same kind, Fritz, with much recrimination, unsupressed his Umbral Phase. He cursed himself for not having done so earlier, it would have saved him from the toad's embrace and other dangers besides. How could he have forgotten? The water slammed him against the stone brick, forcing him to shift into shadows. He tried to float up and onto a roof and when that failed he tried to slip through the wall opposite him. Somehow the rough currents opposed him.

He suspected it before, that this river was conjured, but this proved it with out a doubt. He lingered in the bleak greying state for a second before he solidified, then was pulled by the water and out into the flooded street. There he joined the rest of the struggling, flailing captives of the river, the odd eddies and chaotic currents keeping him from swimming with any intentional direction. He quickly realised he had to breathe and activated his Belt of Eelkin for the first time.

His neck tingled as gills opened upon them. With an innate sense of wrongness, he sucked in the water and found himself able to breathe. It was a strange sensation and he didn't like it one bit, but it saved him for now. Fritz focused on stopping his spinning, he swept his arms this way and that, slowing the motion of his body and regaining some control, setting himself upright. He hovered almost serenely in the water.

Even though he knew he was rushing along with the river, the doors and faces of the buildings speeding by him, he felt as if he was floating in a still pond. He stared around in the clear water, lit as it was by the false stars in the sky, there were many figures caught in the stream just as he was. The toads flailed and attempted to close in on their foes, but even with their webbed hands and feet, they could find no way to fight the water.

The more human figures were in varying states of calm, crazed floundering or simple confusion. One of the Scale Guard, the Captain he realised, had a rod of coral in one hand and aimed it at one of the distressed and drowning commoners. Both the rod and the man the rod was pointed at were lit with dim blue light. Suddenly the man could breathe the water, he took great gulps and the Captain levelled the rod on another thrashing soul.

Not all the swept-away people had such troubles with drowning, many had Treasures, Abilities, and potions for such an unfortunate event. Some were plainly Merfolk and able to breathe as easily as they could on land. Louisa floated nearby and was seemingly unconscious or dead. Not being one of those with waterbreathing powers, Fritz feared she'd drown. He began to wave, attempting to catch the Captain's attention. He noticed him quickly his, azure eyes finding his.

He pointed the coral rod at Fritz and used it, before calmly grasping a bag of triads and feeding the Treasure gold. The dim blue light dissipated, but Fritz didn't feel all that different. The Captain had mistook his gestures. He waved again, catching an annoyed eye, but this time added his climbing signs and yelled.

"Not, Me, her!" He shouted, pointing. The words came out in bubbles and burbles. The Captain understood him this time and the dim light glowed around the, hopefully, unconscious woman. With that, Fritz nodded his thanks. The Captain nodded once and returned to searching for those in distress. The others of the Scale Guard stared on stoically. They were obviously tired and some were wounded, but strangely they were seemingly relieved to be trapped in the torrent.

He wondered why that was and noticed that slowly, but surely, the toads were being pushed and pulled by invisible currents. All toward the front of the river, separating them from the people of Rain City. The Mer Spire was looming ever closer and they passed under the second star at a speed Fritz could barely believe. The wave crashed over more monsters, guards and bodies, and they were also swept up into the stream. Fritz could do nothing but watch as the Spire and the walls surrounding it came into clear view.

It was then that a deep, resonant and profoundly regal voice rippled through the water.

"Ready yourselves." Fritz could hear it clearly, it wasn't muffled or mangled as it should be by the river.

"Flee if you can't fight. Muster behind me if you can," the voice ordered. Fritz searched the river for the man speaking and when he looked behind himself saw a figure within an orb of rippling blue light. His features were obscured and his robes fluttered gently, he held a staff of gold before him, its head of sapphire glowing fiercely.

"Three." The voice boomed.

"Two."

"One."