Icarus Awakens

Evalyn reacted to the shift in the monster first. Her power set rewarded keeping track of the flow of battle and adjusting songs accordingly. The Bard preferred not to use songs relating to negative emotions, which ruled out those that could affect the enemy. So far, the powers she’d awakened had honored that decision. That meant she focused more on her allies.

Here, she felt a change was needed. While Valor Song’s general benefits made it an all-purpose buff, there is something to be said about it being a master of none. Another might have chosen to switch to Lightfoot Song in an attempt to hasten a retreat, but the Bard was keen enough to realize they’d be overrun quickly by the giant monster bearing down on them.

It was truly enormous, an eight-legged lizard tall and long enough to step from one dune to another without needing to step in a valley. The Hero was a flicking reflection as he sped across the monster, moving far faster than anyone at level 3 ought to.

“Daniel?” she asked, as the group spread out.

The Artificer pulled out his Focus, his thumbs moving almost as quickly across the surface as Gadriel. “It’s a greater skink, level 4. ‘Greater’ isn’t a variant, it’s part of its name. My Encyclopedia doesn’t say anything on whether it has any abilities, just that it’s big.”

“Very big!” Tak shouted, his voice sharpening into a shrill note. More from surprise than fear, though the latter was not entirely absent. “Do we run?”

“Too fast!” Evalyn shouted, Daniel nodding in confirmation. They only had another minute before the massive monster would be on them, and it had been on the horizon. “How is Gadriel still alive?”

“That kind of looks like the power Heldren used against him in the duel, Momentous Strikes. It’s got a combo meter and as long as he sustains it, he moves faster. ” She saw his eyes widen suddenly. “He’s moving when I slow time! Very slowly, but I can make it out.” The exclamation was followed by a soft snarl from Hunter.

“He must have gotten lucky with his awakening. Plans?”

“It smells bloody. Hurting for a while,” Hunter commented after readjusting to normal time flow. “Gadriel has been hunting it for long. Stall, evade, but do not run.”

Evalyn, keener to the emotions of the team thanks to a newly awakened power, sensed Daniel’s hesitation and stopped him from using his mana expensive time power again. “Save your mana. Khare and I should back off, the rest of you can dodge and/or hope to survive an injury. Are you ok with being distractions?”

The ground was beginning to tremble. Mutual concern spread from the three, as well as from Khare, but there was no time for more words. Evalyn took off running, firing a Songbolt over her shoulder as she switched to Ironhand Ballad. Gadriel was their best option for actually killing this thing, and the new song would help the graceful slashes he was cutting into the monster.

With both his speed and the floating nature of the golden wings he wore, he was practically flying around the greater skink. It must not have had anything that could hit him in that state despite being at a higher level. Its death was inevitable, she just hoped it would die before any of her friends did.

…

Daniel was running as well, perpendicular to the monster’s charge instead of directly away. Tak remained still in the path of the greater skink, waving a red cape in every sense but in reality, while Hunter ran in the opposite direction from him.

To the giant eyes of the skink he seemed a prey far weaker than itself frozen in fear. It planned on just trampling the feathered thing and moving on to the next. The blood loss and lines of pain across its body didn’t matter when there were hated mortals to kill, and the one it had tried and failed to even touch and whipped it into a frenzy. But just before it reached the mortal, something happened.

Tak Jumped towards the monster, directed away from its mouth and aimed over one of the front shoulders. The greater skink swerved with lightning speed, making a full turn in a space comparable to a large intersection. The wraith that haunted it was given every opportunity during this time, but that didn’t matter anymore. It reached out with its foremost claws, grasping into the air to deliver death. It missed, the weakness from its many injuries severely limiting what it could do, even with its attributes.

From its left, Daniel raised a hand and fired his reloaded arm bow while running, Khare obligingly using their mana to activate Called Shot. He knew the enchanted bolt was strong, enough to destroy the chest of a normal person if he ever got jumped by thieves again, but against the greater skink it was like shooting a tank with a handgun.

Instead of going for him, the skink retargeted Hunter. Both Evalyn and Khare had retreated to a safe enough distance while keeping in range of their respective powers. They were ignored simply because the skink saw no difference in the prey and just wanted to kill them as quickly as possible. It was smart enough to figure out what the mortals were doing, but not immediately.

Hunter dodged in much the same way, landing safely and reforming the third point of the triangle he, Daniel, and Tak were attempting to maintain. The skink came for Daniel then, now with a bit of caution. The wild pace it had maintained for hours had carried it too far to effectively track and strike the previous two. It adjusted by approaching deliberately, the pace still spurred to some degree by the life leaking out of it. The exsanguination was growing worse every time one of Khare’s enhanced arrows successfully applied the stacking bleed effect.

Daniel fought the urge to freeze time as the monster approached. His Jump would need good timing, but he also had no idea how long it would take this monster to die considering it looked half dead already and was moving at full speed. If he ran out of mana, he ran out of ways to stay alive. His legs tensed, ready to release at any moment. He Jumped, too early. Daniel had jumped low, correctly assuming that the wings he hadn’t had time to release would keep him up in the air too long, but had compensated poorly by moving early.

Rather than twist on the sand in an attempt to turn around, the skink made a worm-like motion by pressing down with its front legs, bunching up its back, and then springing upright on its back four legs. A few more seconds and Daniel would have been past the talons that came to meet him.

Daniel could control his fall to a limited degree in midair, but this was matched by the monster’s ability to redirect its claws. It had come to a full stop. At the cost of strain on its muscles, sure, but it had a lot of vitality to go before it would truly die. Nothing for it and no time. Daniel couldn’t Dodge Roll or even Jump again. Without a proper seventh sense Daniel couldn’t know why, but it was impossible to use another ability in his current state without practiced dual-channeling. He was-

Blur of movement. Only one monstrous forelimb had come for him. That should have been all that was needed. Before it could intersect, something flew up and connected with enough force to sever one of the massive digits. The image of Gadriel lit by the noon sun, cape flowing over his flared golden wings, was only visible for a fraction of a second but stayed in Daniel’s mind for longer. He was so stunned, going from certain death to overcome with awe, that he landed roughly, bouncing over the rise of a dune and rolling down the other side. At the bottom he coughed, thought about screaming, and then got to his feet. By now Daniel had learned that being a monster hunter meant rolling with the near-death experiences, in this case literally.

Tak and Hunter both prepared for the monster to charge them, only for it to aim between them and for Evalyn. Daniel saw this as through the auras that persisted despite Hunter losing access to the feature. I think it’s learning! he warned Hunter and Tak. But Gadriel’s… he’s… he’s got it. One of you needs to intercept it.

Will run past.

It’s heading for Evalyn!

I know. I’ve got it.

The skink couldn’t bother with the three standing to challenge it. Its instincts called for their blood, but its higher-level intelligence told it that if it wanted to kill anything it would have to be more selective. One of the two was making a lot of noise. Nothing the skink could sense the magic of, monsters being naturally insensitive to Bardic music meant for mortals. It simply, and violently, wanted the noise to stop. Then it heard something else.

Hunter used Fearsome Roar when the skink was in the center of the rough triangle. This was a targeted sonic ability that only the monster was subject to. It could never be afflicted by the fear effect, at least not from an ability this weak. That wasn’t the point. The roar was a challenge, speaking on another level and completely diverting the Skink’s attention. The short-lived ringcat Tlara had once possessed had been forced to make use of this. Hunter did it by himself.

His challenge was more effective. The skink couldn’t quite comprehend what Hunter was. Until this moment it had regarded him as the same as the other mortals. With the roar, there was a realization. The same instinct that drove every monster to the ruin of mortals spiked a far deeper hatred. The monster without words suddenly found itself with one. Traitor. There was an intrinsic loathing of any creature that served the mortals, willing or not, but this was something different. Something the monster could not describe as profane, but still regarded as such.

Hunter’s plan worked too well.

…

“Why is it slowing down?” Evalyn asked herself, seeing the lithe creature practically pouring blood out of itself turn from her to Hunter. That didn’t surprise her all things considered, but up until this point the slowest the greater skink had gone was a pace that could be described as breakneck. Now it approached Hunter with a slinking, stalking gait that was unbothered by Khare’s exacerbation of the bleeding effect or the Hero now focusing on those areas most injured.

Evalyn had been removed from the path of the marauding monster and yet still felt the gripping terror she had to edge out her ability’s sake. She fired a Songbolt as she changed to Lightfoot Song, registering a little surprise as her mana went from half full to half empty, but was still mostly enveloped in a sense of foreboding.

…

Daniel worked his way to the top of a dune and echoed her fears. Hunter was low to the ground as he prepared to Jump. From his own experience, Daniel knew what would happen. The monster might even stop before reaching Hunter and carefully make the final approach to ensure it could land a hit, any hit. It had six arms it could reasonably use, too many for Hunter and Gadriel to block or evade

I’m switching your Regeneration to Dodge Roll, Daniel thought. Crap, have you used that before?

No.

Well, it’s coming for you. You’re going to need all three dodge powers and Evasiveness to survive this. Daniel looked at the bloody trail the monster was leaving in the sand. It can’t keep going like this. It has to die soon.

Can’t use more than one power, Hunter pointed out, now padding experimentally to the side while the monster approached. There was a burst of speed from it whenever he backed up making it clear there’d be a chase if he wanted to die running.

I’ll try to get close enough to use my shield power. Daniel took off running after the monstrous pair

Which power should I use first?

Up to you. You’ve got this Hunter.

With four legs on the ground and four in the air, the skink was able to move easily while presenting its jaws, tail, and half of its limbs as potential threats. In a way, the oversized lizard looked ridiculous, like a dog trying to walk on two legs, except it moved with murderous intent. Hunter couldn’t run or it would drop down and chase, though not at the speed that would allow the ringcat to dodge it entirely.

The claws of the monster not on the ground were kept high, expecting another jump. Instead, Hunter waited for it to get close, when the claws would come down. The skink was faster, but Hunter was smaller and hadn’t spent all night having his flesh hacked off. That saved him from the first two attacks and an intervention by Gadriel a third. While the fourth would have connected directly, Hunter used one of his newer powers to survive.

Hunter blurred, his image stretching across space and occasionally forming a distinct image out of the mostly golden mess of light. Contrary to Daniel’s expectations of a power set that fell roughly in line with that of a Totem Warrior or, perhaps, Martialist, Hunter had awakened a power that could best be described as proper magic. Flash Jaunt was a mana-hungry combination of illusion and teleportation.

Whereas Dodge Roll still left Daniel exposed, this temporarily made Hunter immune to attacks and produced a flickering image along the path of travel to draw fire. It saved Hunter, though Daniel might have suggested using Dodge Roll first to keep the trump card in reserve to surprise the monster with later. It was a lapse of judgment born out of inexperience with the newly shared power and trepidation of the foe he was facing.

That did not mean Hunter was defenseless or inept. He came out of the ability with a final clarification of his form and reappearance of his aura, indicating the ringcat was real again. Hunter went running out from under the back of the monster which was conveniently in the direction of Tak and Daniel. His long enemy spent a few seconds turning, missing with a tail lash in the process.

The dunes proved to be the biggest disadvantage Hunter had, beyond the sheer disparity in attributes. At best he could Jump from rise to rise, whereas the Skink was tall enough to step in the valleys and still keep its belly above them. It made a difference in the race for survival.

Tak, faster and more physically adept than Daniel, still wasn’t close enough when the Skink intercepted Hunter again. Parts of it were on the verge of growing sluggish through blood loss and accumulated damage, but the whole was just as deadly as it had been. It reached out for Hunter with a leap, back two hands spread out and front two up high to cover both methods of escape.

Gadriel was a blur in the air, still gaining the smallest increments of speed with every hit on the monster. He was all but ignored by the skink, but even he couldn’t move fast enough to intercede on more than one attacking limb. Tak, in the distance, began to breathe and run harder as he realized the arms of the monster might as well be the jaws of the giant creature, snapping up Hunter.

Daniel came to the same conclusion. Instead of entering the beginning stages of a metamorphosis like Tak, he had a desperate idea. Hunter, can you use your teleport midair? It was less a formed word than a mental assent that came as a response along with the fear of a cornered animal. The Artificer didn’t even feel the pain of hitting the ground when his body went limp.

The world was on fire, a heat that flowed most through the veins of the body he possessed. His prior attempts to handle Hunter’s senses were like holding electrical wire that, now, had the insulation stripped off. Raw nerves running hot with adrenaline filtered nothing from the world around him. The overwhelming scent of the skink’s blood stabbed through Hunter’s face and into Daniel’s mind as even the cast-off remnants of the monster tried to thwart him.

Without the experience of imprisonment, Daniel might not have had the will to hang on. Fleeing from his own worst nightmare had given him a breakthrough reinforced over the days since. He’d only be able to maintain this for seconds regardless, but that was all he needed. I’ll Jump, you Jaunt, he thought, finding it hard to do so within the maelstrom of a beast with its blood up.

Can’t!

Must. Daniel took over, Hunter reluctantly ceding control. The instant that was done he activated Moment of Clarity. Even though this possession was an active mana effect, it was like it didn’t count as being channeled, allowing another ability to be used. Considering the description of the power explicitly allowed him to use his while possessing Hunter, there was either a caveat or the Octyrrum just allowed the interaction to happen.

Why!? Waste of mana. Hunter growled. The backswing of sensory deprivation was just as bad as the initial hit, but Daniel, discorporated, clung to the knowledge he’d only need one moment.

The first time he’d used Moment of Clarity as anything other than time to think was to fire his first crossbow shot at a monster. The ability stipulated that he could ‘designate’ his next action once time began, which translated to preparing whatever he wanted to do and having it triggered once time resumed. Normally he didn’t need that level of precision. In an unfamiliar body swarming with alien impulses, without ever having attempted this kind of maneuver, and with life at stake, Daniel didn’t take that chance.

Daniel, in Hunter’s body, used Jump just before his will to hang on broke and he was tossed back to his body lying awkwardly in the sand. He couldn’t sense its flow, but faintly registered a small drain on his mana. The notification that appeared on his Focus would have been ignored if he hadn’t worried it would affect Hunter.

Alert: You are sustaining an active Effect in Ally: Hunter through the benefits of Bond: Friendship. You may cancel this effect at any time, even if the Power does not normally allow this. While sustaining this effect you are considered as Concentrating/Channeling and cannot use another Ability or active effect of a Feature through normal means. You will also expend an amount of Mana equivalent to the amount needed to originally maintain the state in which the ability was originally used, in addition to whatever ongoing costs are incurred by the ability.

As he was reading, Hunter was moving. The two sets of claws kept in the air struck, Gadriel unable to fully prevent either from reaching out. As they began to envelop Hunter, his image blurred once more as it shot down to the ground. Even Gadriel paused for a moment in seeing that, before the Hero’s diligence kicked in and he struck to maintain his momentum.

When Hunter landed, Daniel felt the small ebb to his mana reserve cease. The effect that Jump created didn’t cost additional mana but did lock people out of using an additional ability while midair. It was one of the main drawbacks of the low level ability. A restriction Hunter had been able to ignore since he hadn’t been the source. It had been a desperate guess, but it worked. Being able to cancel the ability mid-use would open up even more options for evasion if Daniel could tolerate Hunter’s senses long enough to use it again.

…

Concentrating on the fight and timing another intervention, Daniel didn’t notice Tak. Evalyn did. Her stomach twisted as she kept playing, inadvertently hastening the Totem Warrior’s pace towards the monster. That wasn’t what worried her. Tak was changing as he ran. Transmutation powers weren’t unheard of, and both Totem Warriors and avianoids had common ones. Some classes, Druids predominantly, could mimic or even embody monsters under certain restrictions. What Tak was doing wasn’t that.

She’d seen what Tak had looked like after the battle at the lake, but not how he’d gotten there. No one had. The sight now unnerved her. His skull bore the most dramatic changes, elongating to the point that his maw took up the majority of the length. The top of the head flattened, losing its feathers as the eyes shifted more to the side. The claws and legs grew wickedly long and Tak’s back hunched.

Those were just the physical changes. Evalyn had confided in Tak, having gotten the closest to him out of anyone in their group. She’d known him as unwaveringly kind. Even the joy he felt in hunting came from an energetic, rather than masochistic place that some hunters darkly partook in. The beast that was taking shape was of anger and ferocity.

That horror was contrasted by the wonder and fear of Hunter’s battle with the skink, if you could call it that. Evalyn wasn’t well studied in every power that existed and had only begun to understand that the singular limit on abilities was a false one, yet what Hunter was doing defied belief. Fortunately, she was keen enough to understand what was happening.

I can let my cleverness get to my head sometimes but Daniel’s? It almost reminded her of when he was under the effect of Tactician. To a degree. He wasn’t the leader of the team, which was something they had yet to determine. They were lacking someone who could carefully balance everyone’s powers and direct the course of battle. Daniel was showing ingenuity with his and Hunter’s powers, true, but neither had he given much thought to the rest of the team over the last few moments. Still, I never would have tried that. Taking over Hunter and using an ability before dropping out? I guess we all have our strengths.

“Khare, Tak’s, I don’t even know,” she said to the gestalt who was now in danger of running out of weapons. Even with their storage space and all that had been done to the monster, the skink’s endurance was proving the deeper pool. At least they seemed to gain an enhancement bonus from their rooted stance, the arrows from their bows flying faster. “Do you have anything that can help him? Stopping him would be better, except I don’t know if he’d attack us if we try.”

“No.”

Simple enough. They can get to the point at least. Evalyn could only watch as Hunter awkwardly tumbled before triggering the overlapping mess that was his teleport power. That had to be draining mana quickly on both ends. As much as the ringcat could survive in that melee, she couldn’t. In any fair world, she would have died in that mine collapse, spared only by luck. All of them should have been dead. Right now. If this monster had charged them without Gadriel to wear it down beforehand they’d have been paste.

If Daniel had never found the heliorite, if Tak hadn’t made it back to the fort, if Thomas hadn’t… hadn’t… well, Evalyn had tried to be charitable. The point was the same she’d tried to make to Daniel after Roost’s Peak, something she reminded herself now to cut off those thoughts. So what? People almost died every day. She wasn’t going to let that stop her. Evalyn had acquired more than just Songbolt and Room Sense* from her recent advancement. She still rejected offensive music, but only of a certain kind.

Another Songbolt pulsed through the air, taking on a vibrant yellow that Evalyn most closely associated with her Lightfoot Song. She moved her hands along her instrument again, one on the rough keys while the other compressed, but it issued no sound. Instead, it faded as she ran forward, movement becoming strictly paced. Sand lightly swirled upwards around her, though she did not stay still enough for the effect to be noticeable. Inside, her mana burned. Maintaining this effect drew from her mana pool faster than any other power she possessed. It was a finale to a power set that otherwise used mana sparingly, a swan song by another name wielded by a rose in the desert. Investiture of Song.