Tread Lightly

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Vernon Boone

My mind roars with anxiety as I jump off the roof and break my fall with a burst of Air, a new general skill I picked up while in the infirmary. One of the other injured people, Skylar, taught it to me as we shared rooms. The skill from the woman is handy and fits me almost perfectly, despite its relatively inefficient use of force. I just need to figure out how to put my Sigils signature into it; then, it will be actually valuable for combat.

The ability will likely gain the property of heat and or light. After all, that's what my three Sigils of Trapper, Scholar, and Priest do. They specialize in light and fire and the precise activation of the skills, each Sigil giving a portion of that combination. It's entirely unlike Bonfire's simple Scholar and Priest combination, which goes all in on fire.

The reason I'm so hung up on Sigils right now is that I need to advance right now. Wyatt and Virgil need my backup. I can just feel it. My eyes scan the frontline where the other townsmen fight. I'm searching for either a monster with a type of Sigil that will be useful or an Outlaw. The Outlaws are much rarer and have higher Sigils on average than the monsters, so they might not be the best bet for me to advance, though.

I dash past the incapacitated Johnny and move toward the line of Sigiled, who are fighting for their lives and mostly losing. Wyatt has already gone straight through the horde, leaving an open trail of massive monster corpses that anyone can climb on, but Johnny still remains unmoving.

Frustration rises within me at the thought that the man left Virgil and Wyatt to die alone, but reason takes over. Johnny is recovering from something and will catch up when he can. That or this is all part of his plan. Either way, he won't leave them alone.

I don't think he's enough, though. Three people against a demon? And a 6th Sigiled demon? That sounds like a recipe for disaster. The 6th Sigil has such a gap between its weakest and strongest fighters, more significant than any other by a mountain. I mean, a single sixth Sigiled and like ten other influential people couldn't even kill Johnny. The math just doesn't add up. Hopefully, I will be able to balance the scales. But how?

I don't know, but my thoughts are forced to pause as a Qiqirn, a type of lesser demon that resembles a dog-man, rushes past the line of Sigiled. I bring my right hand up and imbue it with my radiant Ether using a combination of Lightray, Radiance, and Beartrap. A small lance of explosive light forms in my palm, and with a lunge forward, I throw it straight into the Qiqirn's face.

I set the Ether to detonate upon impact using Beartrap, imbue it with heat with Radiance, and speed with Lightray. I think of myself as exceptionally gifted when it comes to combining skills, and a smile touches my face as I see the lesser demon's face get burned to a crisp by the explosive light.

The only bad part about the mixture of skills I put together is that they take much more Ether than other people's skills. After all, I am using three times as much mental strength and Ether for one attack.

I quickly move up to the corpse of my kill and touch my hand upon it, inspecting the carcass for the Sigil within. If I'm fortunate, this might have a Sigil I need. My mind touches the inner reaches of the Qiqirn's corpse, and my head shakes as I feel what is inside.

Prowler.

Not what I need. I'm most attuned to the projection-type Sigils. Trapper barely fit me, and I only chose it because I liked its prospects. Stuff like Occultist, Scholar, Priest, and probably Shaman also fit best. Any of those four is what I'm looking for, but Priest or Occultist would probably be the best.

We are about to fight a demon, and I'm already best at supporting others. I think these two would be the best. Priest typically bends toward healing others if it overwhelms a Scholar counterpart, but Occultist is the single best Sigil for healing. Usually, that recovery is focused on the self, but I feel that my other three Sigils will allow me to project that outward.

There's only one problem. I haven't proven my Metaphor yet.

The two questions I answered for my Sigils were odd and hard to prove since I reached the 3rd Sigil a year or so ago, and I answered them so long ago that some of the intricacies are lost on me. The questions and answers were as follows.

Why is a hole the most excellent trap?

Because once you fall in, you try to dig your way out, but that is never the answer. The only way out of a hole is to ask for help.

A monster holds onto you from a rope from the other side of a bottomless hole. It tries to pull you across. What do you do?

I let go of the rope.

I remember my answers, but I just don't know how to prove them. Especially not this fast. But if it comes to the worst, I'll advance anyway. There is always a chance I succeed even without proving the Metaphor.

The battle in front of me forces me to multitask. Think and fight. The combination is formidable, and I do everything possible to help the people around me. Along with two Sigiled beside me, I kill several more Qiqirn and even a few Amikuks. These creatures I'm currently fighting are much more typical than the ones I found with Wyatt and Virgil.

These Amikuks are normal-sized and only have one or two Sigils at most. That and their Sigils are regular, only Shaman and Swimmer. I am forced to take a backstep as a Short Horned Serpent comes into vision from the horde. The two people that I was fighting alongside run to get away from the giant python. But I stand unafraid.

It is close to a quarter of the size of the one I killed with my brother and Wyatt. So, instead of running like them, I create another lance of light in my hand and move a bit to the side. I throw the hard, explosive light at the serpent as it tries to take a bite out of a nearby man, and I make the snake fall off balance.

The man with a terrified face who was almost bitten in half sends me a "Thank you!" as I send two more spears of light at the snake as fast as I can. I may be better at support and preparation, but I can still fight. If only I hadn't spent so long with Heath to get this lost eye healed, I would have been able to place so many traps ahead of time.

Ah, it's so frustrating. That damned hunter got my eye while we were fighting; if not for Dakota, I'd probably be dead with a hole in my brain as well as my eye. At least I got a Concoction from that fight, even if it wasn't needed immediately. Because it's about to be used. I do feel a bit bad, though, as I'm pretty sure it's one of the last two or three.

I'm sure everyone else will be okay, though. Everyone knows to be careful with how much Ether they use. Well, everyone except for Wyatt. He once lived through acute Ether saturation and treats his body like it will happen every time. Maybe no one told him every time you suffer from it, the worse it gets?

Surely someone did.

After four spears of light to the face of the rampaging serpent, it falls still. The smell of burnt snake now joins the mess of blood, gunpowder, and death that is already in the Air. I don't even bother checking the Sigil on the Short Horned Serpent as I am ninety-nine percent sure it's just Soldier.

It seemed pretty tricky, but it was likely just a monster with fewer Sigils, probably just one or two at most.

I move along the front of the battle, helping as many people as possible, but it's never enough. Slowly we are being pushed back. The space between us and the buildings of Rustbank is gradually decreasing. That and the dead or wounded are piling up. Most who fall never stand back up and are just left underneath all the monsters to be trampled over.

After a minute or so of fighting, a headache that almost sends me to the floor presses down on me. Over time it's been gradually growing, but for the first time since the fighting started, I step back. Most of my fighting capabilities come from my Ether, after all.

I might have been trained as a Hunter, but I only squeaked by, to be honest. I'm unlike Virgil, who is seemingly skilled in nearly every weapon and master of stealth. Nor am I like Wyatt, whose natural aggressiveness and instinct make him a force to be reckoned with.

That kid is nuts. He told me and Virgil a story of him fighting three Hunters a day after he got his first Sigil, which didn't even have any direct combat potential. He said it ended in mutual destruction, but I struggle to fathom how anyone could do such a thing. The gap in skill is so far apart; can it really be bridged by madness and grit?

I don't know, but I do know that I need to step back. I can't afford to pass out from Ether exhaustion right now. If I do, I'm never standing back up. So, I take a few steps back and view this side of Rustbank that is being attacked.

Several dozen men and women fight on the front, using swords, axes, guns, and almost everything you can imagine to keep the horde back. I even catch a glimpse of something using streams of high-pressure water to fight. It must be a Scholar-Swimmer mixture.

While these people are fighting for their lives, they are slowly losing morale. Their friends and people they met are constantly dropping, either from exhaustion, wounds, or the pale lady claiming them. My heart churns in sorrow as I see their pained faces. But I need to get back; I'll help them once I take a few seconds to breathe.

As I step back, I get close to Johnny, and I hear a voice from above, one that is screaming at the top of their lungs. I recognize the voice as Earl's. I look up to see his face over the side of the roof instead of shooting his gatling gun.

His words are hoarse like he's cleaving apart his voice by being so loud, but it's filled with desperation.

"GET UP, JOHNNY!"

I hear his desperation, and my eyes follow the subject of his scream. Johnny, the Gunfighter, slowly stands. His legs shake so heavily, and I can tell from my proximity that he looks like a feeble old man. Whatever he did to himself left him with entirely black eyes and black liquid that streams down from his orifices. But despite all that is happening to him internally, the man stands.

Not only does he stand, but he also draws his Colt, Downpour, and starts firing it within a second of touching the gun with both hands, one on the trigger, one on the hammer. Bullets ring out so fast the moment he starts that I can't even tell if it's one bullet or many at first. But the confusion is quickly solved as he fans across the horde from right to left.

Holes appear in the head of each monster that is visible from his position, and after the bullets dig into the skulls of the creatures, they detonate shortly after. This detonation is made purely of Ether and splits the skulls with simple force, nothing like my light or heat at all.

Over a hundred monsters fall in a short moment. Everyone around cheers and screams for Johnny's power, but the middle-aged man coughs out a clump of black gunk while they do so. And he yells at them to get back to work with a voice several octaves deeper than usual.

"Stand your ground! I can only help for a second! I have to get through to end it all!"

His actions breathe a new life into the defense, and everyone begins fighting with renewed resolve. Cheers and battle cries ring out as the people of Rustbank step over the dead bodies of monsters and regain some of the land they lost.

Jonny steps up and starts walking forward as well. And I follow him despite my need for recovery. Wherever he goes, I will. That is the only way to make sure Virgil and Wyatt are fine. It's foolish to think that those three alone can kill the demon.

So, I rush to keep behind the Gunfighter as he mantles over the corpse of a bear that Wyatt had killed. Johnny looks back at me for a simple glance before continuing onward. I guess he approves? I don't know, and frankly, I don't care. He's getting my help whether he likes it or not. We both follow in the footsteps of the Wendigo and over the dead he left in his wake.

As we walk, the multitude of monsters that were simply behind the wall of flesh he killed attack us. I go to help, but the Gunfighter puts down nigh everything with a single well-placed bullet between the eyes of whatever is charging at us.

But I do understand why he sent Wyatt first as we walk because, frankly, Johnny isn't all that fast on his feet. He's just good. Real good at what he does. It takes us almost a full two minutes just to catch up to how far Wyatt went in about a single minute while charging through a horde of monsters.

In front of the giant dead Uktena that blocks our way to seeing Wyatt is a group of five people. They are all shaking like scared kittens as they see Johnny. Seems like no one told these Outlaws that the Gunfighter would be their charge.

Before Johnny pulls up his Colt and blows the brains out of the five in front of us, I check to see if any might have the Sigil I need. My perceptions goes purely on their looks, and I find two that might be the case. The two on the left, a man and a woman, are both wearing glasses and without any kind of melee weapons in their hands.

I whisper to Johnny, hoping he will leave at least one of them to me. Otherwise, I won't be able to take the Sigil.

"Psst! Can you leave one of the two on the left for me?"

Johnny doesn't respond to me as he takes a step forward and brings his gun up to the five in front of us. The second he does, the five dart apart, all using their variety of Ether to save them. Some move with insane swiftness or turn invisible with shadows, but only one catches my eye. And it was one of the two on the side, the man.

He throws up a pane of light similar to glass, and honestly, that just might be what it is. A glass pane infused with light. I rush at the possible Craftsman-Priest combination with a spear of light forming in my hand. I hear Johnny let loose several bullets to my side, one of which hits the glass pane of my target.

The initial bullet leaves the pane cracked and hard to see through, but the forceful Ether explosion afterward breaks it entirely. The man quickly throws up another one to defend his chest and head. What he is protecting himself from are bullets, not light, however.

Light can bounce off of glass, and the broken piece of glass on the ground is perfect for ricocheting light. I imbue a fourth skill into this spear of light just before I throw it so I can control how it reflects. I put Mirror into it while changing how my Beartrap will work. I swap it so that it will now activate the Mirror upon impact. This Mirror will change the glass's reflecting properties in such a way that the spear of light will perfectly bounce to hit the man.

I've spent hours before practicing bouncing light off of my Mirrors just for fun, and finally, it is coming into use.

The radiance leaves my hand and, in an impossibly succinct instance that only light could do, goes from my palm to the glass and bounces off into the man's back. It sears a massive burn into his spine with the burning light.

He lets out a scream and falls, letting him dodge the two bullets that came his way from Johnny after he survived the first one. I sprint at him, creating another spear of light. I let it loose straight into his head when I get the second spear. The man dies instantly as his brain is cooked.

I slide at him and reach into him to find his Sigil. The location of a Sigil is always based on the first one, so if his first Sigil was a Priest, it would be in the heart. If it was Craftsmen, it would be in his thumb. I check his heart first and do not find anything, so I go next to his thumb and find his Sigil.

Surprisingly, I find a three-sided Sigil. This man was a 3rd Sigil like me. He just died so quickly from the expected fear of having Johnny shooting at you and me taking advantage of that fear. I take out a knife and cut off his thumb as I heat the blade with Radiance. The red-hot steel makes his thumb leave his hand quickly. Bile rises as I do so, but I push it down. I can't puke now. I need to do this without nausea.

This is the only way I can wait to take the Sigil when I need to, and if the man somehow creates an artifact, I can make it be the thumb by cutting off the Sigil from the rest of the body. Only by repeating this reasoning repeatedly in my head can I keep the nausea down. By the time I turn back from removing the man's thumb, I see Johnny already making his way through the open cavity in the monster left by a gatling gun.

I hurriedly follow him through, and when I push my way through the disgusting wound of the dead Uktena, the sight on the other side terrifies me.

A massive flame burns on the other side of the Uktena, with barely visible bodies inside it. One of which I can somewhat recognize by the deformed arm. Wyatt.

Bonfire, however, is surprisingly here and is already pushing down the flames, making them smaller. I see Johnny squint his eyes at the sight of Bonfire helping Wyatt through the fire, but after a few seconds, Johnny pulls his gun and shoots at Bonfire.

I put a yell of, "What the fuck!" into my throat, but before it can even leave, bullet curves around Bonfire and hits something behind him. A demon reveals himself through a burst of wind while he floats in the Air behind Bonfire, and the second the pyro notices, he jumps away in a panic. Bonfire only manages to escape because the demon is busy catching a bullet with the swirling winds in his palm.

Hura, the Demon Of Storms, has now entered the fray. Everyone around goes still, waiting for his first move.

And his first action is to hover over where Wyatt is; he douses the flame with a burst of freezing rain. I can feel the chill of the liquid from here. The conflagration that even Bonfire was working hard to remove is put out instantly.

Hura then descends from his vantage point in the sky. He moves from floating in the Air to the ground smoother than any bird I've ever seen despite Hura not having wings. Once his feet touch the ground, he calmly walks over to the severely burnt Wyatt, who looks more like a piece of charcoal than a human. The demon puts his boot over the young man's chest and makes my heart beat faster than ever before. He could easily crush Wyatt's heart if he wanted.

The demon looks at all of us with a chuckle. I finally get a good look at the creature we have been so worried about. He wears a full suit and surprisingly looks almost human. The only difference is that he is incredibly handsome, almost impossibly so. He has a twin pair of horns on his head that look like brutal natural weapons. My focus is drawn away from his body and the boot he has on Wyatt to his face as he speaks.

"So you three… You seek to kill me? How laughable. My slave could kill you all three alone, but I guess I'll entertain you all. After all, it's been a while since I've had a 6th Sigil in my belly."

The demon finishes his ramble with a slight chuckle as his eyes focus on Johnny, who tightens his grip on his Colt. I can literally hear the pressure of his hand from where I stand. It reminds me of an anxious type of squeeze. One that makes me lose confidence in this battle. I think Bonfire does as well because the three of us go completely still. A short pause ensues as the demon just looks at us all. Then he gets bored after a few seconds of us not doing anything.

"Are you too scared? That sounds about right. I'd be scared, too, if I had to face myself as a brittle human. How about I come to you since you won't come to me?"

Hura mocks us as he starts to move his leg off of Wyatt to move to us, but before he can even move his foot all the way to his first step, a charred, blackened hand reaches up and grabs his leg.

Pale white eyes beneath an otherwise charcoal figure evoke pure madness through their defiance of death. Words that sound like they come from vocal cords burnt in the fires of hell reach all of us standing here with quiet yet definite resolution.

“I’m… right… here…”