Tread Lightly – Among Monsters And Men

A quintet of bullets resounds, each round eliciting a metallic screech as they slam against Skywanter's wings that are wrapped to defend his upper body. While these bullets come out, Johnny leans back to dodge the claw coming straight for his head, and I swipe my dagger to help, aiming right for the midsection of the Bado.

 

My dagger meets flesh just as the Gunfighter bounds backward out of danger. I rip my blade out just as the Bado twists in a fury to meet me, Darklight fuming out of its nose like smoke, spiraling with twisted luminance.

 

The smoke flies toward me with silvery light deep inside its fumes, and I push Lennox, who is beside me, away. Then, instead of how most would react to the Darklight coming for them, I step into it, using every morsel of my mind to force Rapturous into action to save my soul from the corruption of the glow.

 

I feel something insidious infiltrate within me as I step up to Skywanter and slash at him again. The being obviously, even in its madness, does not expect my madness and willingness to be invaded by its Darklight as it focuses on Johnny instead of me. This negligence permits me to stab it several more times, each drawing silver blood from its body that drips onto the rocky ground with a sizzling acidic burn.

 

Just as it reacts to me, I jump backward, letting Rapturous cleanse my body of the fumes of Darklight. I didn't know it could be spread like that, but Darklight shifts to fit its form, every being it corrupts differently in its own way. So, if a man could create fumes that hurt prior to being invaded with Darklight, then those fumes could be substituted with the possible Dominion of the Mother Below.

 

I barely dodge a claw in retaliation as I move backward, and my eyes widen as the Bado moves toward me with incredible speed, no longer focused on Johnny. Surprisingly, it steps at me so swiftly that I can't fend it off by raising my dagger in time to go toe to toe with it unless I use large amounts of Ether to supplement my weakness.

 

And that large amount of Ether is something I can't spare right now. Rapturous is barely functioning as my mind is dyed with agony from its mere usage. Nothing more is available to me right now.

 

As the Bado skirts toward me, the floor disappearing underfoot as it covers the darkness with an inhuman gait, I try to think of something. Anything that will help. I could move fast enough to block one attack. Still, the consecutive ones will either kill me or leave me wounded so severely that I might as well have just died as I'll slow everyone down.

 

Darkness… can I create light? No, even if that would weaken it, it wouldn't make me catch up in strength or speed. All I have is this arm of mine and the dagger in my hand. But I'm not alone. Just behind it stands Lennox confused, and Johnny, who is moving toward me as fast as he can. He merely isn't fast enough to reach me before the Bado does.

 

An answer comes to my mind right as the Bado swings toward me, its claw illuminated by tenebrous silver. I raise my left arm to catch the blow and scream at Lennox.

 

"Lennox! Hit it!"

 

Despite never seeing it for myself, I take a gamble in this Stoneclad, hoping it can fight at least a bit. He's always been dopy, curious, and odd but never dangerous, even if he somehow got a Sigil.

 

But I don't have any focus to spare him after my scream as I strain my body to its absolute limit, moving far faster than I ever could have before I got a Sigil, Ironheart momentarily pushing my body beyond its limit with pure will, yet it's simply not fast enough. I don't manage to catch the claw with the Bloody Palm. Instead, I undershoot by several inches due to its raw speed.

 

Pain wracks along my body as the four nails of Skywanter's claw stab through my forearm, lacing my face with dark red blood. I can see a beaming smile from Skywanter, the Taintwrought corrupted by the Mother Below. The skin behind its beak curls with argent joy, the creature almost infatuated with my suffering as the Darklight on his claw begins to sink into my skin.

 

This Motherbound just wants to convert me!

 

My knees buckle as the force continues to come from the Bado-turned-Taintwrought. I fall to the ground with my arm above my head as I am continuously pushed into the hard stone floor, silvery light constantly flowing into my arm. Whispers enter my mind, dozens, hundreds, thousands of them, each telling me one thing.

 

"INFEST!"

 

These whispers stab into every section of my mind and body as Rapturous fights the good fight. Cracks elicit from my bones and joints as I struggle to keep my arm above my head and the claw out of my eyes. I even feel the whispers spread along the whites of my eyeballs as if someone was writing on them with a pencil.

 

Unable to scream in pain as the whispers somehow take my vocal cords from me, the Darklight worms its way to my mind. But as this all happens, Rapturous continues to dissipate the Darklight, doing all it can at my meager focus and control of the skill to save my life.

 

Just as I start to panic and worry that Rapturous won't be enough, I hear, no, I feel a murmur as powerful as the whispers coming from my arm.

 

"MINE!"

 

A wave of the dark red Ether the Bloody Palm is known for covering the wound's entrance as my forearm starts rapidly healing to counteract the Bado's attack. But Skywanter, or whatever he's become now, only finds this as a challenge as he stabs his other claw right into the spot beside the first on my forearm.

 

Another strand of this madness enters me, the thousands of whispers turning into millions with bulging ardent veins as both the Bloody Palm and I are overwhelmed. My vision is covered with scrawling symbols that are incomprehensible yet remind me of The Cabin, just as everything is tinted a silvery onyx.

 

Without any other choice, I focus on the words from The Cabin, trying to force the world to see through this fakeness to see reality as another slam is put upon my mind, making my whole vision shake. This slam repeatedly repeats as I begin to crumble from within. Still, just before my vision goes black from this mental and physical pressure, I see a stone fist hit the side of Skywanter's head.

 

The Bado is knocked to the side, his claws ripped out of my flesh as he stumbles to recover from the blow. However, the young Stoneclad has gathered his courage, a burgeoning concept for the childish ancient. Blurrily, I can see Johnny come from behind as Lennox throws punch after punch onto stunned Bado, each having a thud that reminds me of a sack of brick falling from a building onto the hard stone.

 

Whispers continue to eat at me from without, but without a source to replenish them, the phenomenon born of Darklight is slowly eradicated from my body with the help of the Bloody Palm. It seems that we found a commonality even among our hatred.

 

We both hate nothing more than to be controlled. Freedom and survival are our bottom lines.

 

This goes even one step further as I feel a small stream of familiar and warm energy flow through my weakened body. My wounds close, my bruises fade, and my headache slightly recedes as something incredible happens.

 

The Bloody Palm helped me!?

 

Surprised by its actions, I wearily stand even if they make sense with its hatred toward manipulation. My injuries are fading even if the only one right now was to the Bloody Palm itself. Most of my other wounds are minor things I'd barely even pay attention to, but I can't lie. It feels great. This warmth…

 

I—... I missed it.

 

When was the last time I felt it?

 

It was when I, no, when we charged through the horde at Rustbank. Together, the Bloody Palm and I. As a team, we are rather… dangerous. It must know that too, which is why it is healing me so that I can kill this threat. Sadly, it's not going so far as to give me back my arm. That would require a much more dangerous threat to its own autonomy or for it to somehow forgive me. Both of which I doubt would happen without me first dying.

 

So, as I take steps that rapidly grow in speed toward Johnny and Lennox, who have a shifting, teleporting, and dangerous Motherbound in front of them. It comes in and out of the darkness repeatedly, but it seems to not be using any more Darklight for some reason. Did it use it all trying to corrupt me? Is there a limit to how much they can channel? I guess if it is the Dominion of the Mother Below or something similar, there would be a limit on how much each individual can draw from her.

 

I get close to the two fighting Skywanter, running toward them between attacks as I join their back-to-back formation, straining my eyes for when the Motherbound reappears. Lennox has deep scrapes into his stone flesh, while Johnny is bleeding profusely from his shooting arm. It's a good thing I wasted its Darklight; I have no idea how Johnny held his own before I arrived.

 

Oh, wait, I do. One of his eyes is a bit cloudy. He must have used Glitch to save himself from death or corruption.

 

For several seconds, nothing happens, and we are surrounded by the uncomfortable and pregnant silence of death broken only by the sound of dripping water and our heavy breathing. I grip my dagger tightly, ready for anything. Then, suddenly, a shadow moves in front of me, and I see the demon appear in front of me, its eyes glowing with malice and that tiny sliver of silver.

 

I stab toward it as I hear the two beside me move to help, but the figure I stab at turns out to only be a construct of shadow and smoke as it bursts into nothing. And out of nowhere, I feel hands wrapped around my skull and legs around my neck, tightening my airway.

 

Panicked, I twisted to try and get Skywanter off of me, but I only feel that tightness grow as even more whispers joined, the Motherbound trying to finish what it started. It must think I am either close to being overtaken or something similar.

 

Suddenly, I feel a great force upon my back, like I'm being hit with a sledgehammer; a yipe comes from the Motherbound as it once more disappears into a puff of smoke.

 

I twist to see Lennox massaging his fist that is cracked, the reddish-black stone of his hand damaged from whatever he just did. A quiet "ow" comes from the Stoneclad as we once more get into our triangle, Johnny yelling out loud into the cavern's depths, the sound heading along the underground river with deathly seriousness.

 

"Bonfire! Where the fuck are you!"

 

As he screams, I am reminded of those who were just behind, Skychaser, Dakota, Bonfire, and Silas. Where are they? But I'm not giving time to dwell on it as Skywanter returns for our souls, this time giving up on corrupting mine.

 

The demon is quick, darting in and out of the shadows as it attacks me with its razor-sharp claws. I try to strike it with my dagger, but it disappears into smoke before I can land a hit. It's as if the shadows themselves are protecting it, making it impossible for me to land a solid blow.

 

I have to be careful not to let it outmaneuver me or the two beside me in the darkness. I focus on my shadow and try to anticipate the demon's movements whenever we are not all back to back. My heart beats with a pounding rhythm every second we spend fighting and waiting for our light source to arrive to slow its movement, and finally, it does.

 

A stumbling man with a flame ignited in his hand throws it above us, the fire sticking to the ceiling above and illuminating this section of the cave. The shadows recede, and I see Skywanter appear on the top of a spike of stone erected from the ground.

 

It shrieks at the light, but just as it goes to jump away for the darkness a bit away, a coin comes flying and hits it on the head, making it stumble like a rock hit it in the head and slow even further. Silas's Weighted Dollar. It makes the coin so heavy that it can slow people drastically as it sticks to them.

 

Johnny and I sprint toward the slowed Taintwrought as a flaming sphere appears on Bonfire's index finger. He yells to us both as we get up close to the corrupted Bado running for its life.

 

"Slow it down! Let me get a good shot!"

 

Confused by what he's going to do but trusting the man, I use a bit of Ether for Physical Strengthening in my feet to make me move faster. The Ether sends an earthquake into my brain, but I hold tight. And with that speed, I build up momentum and slide upon the smooth stone past the Bado, kicking it in the legs.

 

It trips over my kick and barely manages to recover. Still, before it recuperates enough to strike back, a hand is put upon the back of its wretched shirt. Johnny pulls with all his might, pistol-whipping Skywanter as it's twisted around to face Bonfire.

 

A happy and slightly depraved laugh reaches my ears as a gout of highly condensed flame flies at Skywanter and stabs straight into its chest. The flame burrows for a half-second before exploding in heat as the Motherbound's chest explodes outward with white-hot fire.

 

Severely wounded, Skywanter falls to the ground as I finish the job, stabbing my dagger into its eyes to put it down for good.

 

Johnny and I collapse to the ground, exhausted, as Skychaser and Dakota finally enter our vision, covered in flesh and blood, though obviously not theirs.

 

Gasping for air as he is clearly just as tired as us, Bonfire steps over to us and spits on the body.

 

"Fucking bastard. Finally got you in my light. Oh, and good callout Wyatt. I think you'd make a decent leader. But you should probably be more aware of others' weaknesses. Your fox struggled to kill that Dreadmarked, so Silas and I had to help. Mostly why I took so long."

 

Too tired to take in the information, I nod in acknowledgment.

 

But then, another set of words reach me that force energy into my body through pure worry. These ones come from Skychaser, who is stumbling like a drunkard.

 

"Hey, we have a problem here. Looks like Blake was got by that Tonguer earlier. Do we put her out of her misery, Johnny, or is there another situation like earlier?"

 

Johnny sits up alongside me as we both grunt and move away from the body of Skywanter, Skychaser's father, who was corrupted. I'm surprised the Bado isn't more emotional about it, but I suppose some things are more critical when your race is on the line.

 

The Gunfighter starts speaking before we even get close to Blake, who is slumped on the side of the rock wall of the underground river.

 

"She was using her embedded ghost to defend against the Darklight and still is. It hasn't entered her body, so she should be fine if she keeps it up. But there is another worry, something that is more important, so we need to watch her for it."

 

Johnny pauses his words as he sits beside Blake, the woman's head slumped and staring at the floor with closed eyes. He starts bandaging both her and himself as he continues. We gather around as he does so, all of us worried for her.

 

"I am unsure if she was ready for advancement, and she did so during our fall so we could find a way to survive. You all were above the water, but we were not. She advanced using the corpse of a Plagued nearby and went unconscious, leaving me to save us both. Thanks for that Ghosteye, Wyatt. I forgot I took it while you were comatose until I needed to move a vine for me to grab onto. Do you mind if I keep it? It's quite useful. I think I could even extend it to my bullets in the future. In exchange, I'll give you back the lantern; I think removing a critical weakness is better for you than for me."

 

I nod at him in agreement. I didn't even realize he had taken it from me; that says how little I used it. Johnny hands me the blue lantern of death as he removes his heart from it. I take it and imbibe mine within it. It's unsafe if more than one of us has our hearts in it if the holder is defeated.

 

But my worry for Blake is more pressing than that possible future. So, turning to the resident Motherbound expert lying on his stomach, trying to recover without laying on his wings, I ask Skychaser.

 

"What happens if you take a Sigil from a Plagued or Motherbound?"

 

Skychaser just looks at me and shrugs.

 

"--Don't. Know. I've never seen it happen before."

 

Fuck. I twist my eyes to check on the woman as only one solution comes to mind to figure out what's going on with her. Insight. But I need to recover more for that. So I bring it up to them, asking if we can rest for a bit so I can check on her.

 

"I might have a way to see what's happening, but I need to rest for Ether. Is that fine?"

 

A unanimous yes, one filled with groans, comes to me. Yeah, everyone's been through some shit the past few hours. Silas offers to say on guard as he doesn't need to sleep while the rest of us commit to resting. I thank him and sit beside Blake and Skychaser, waiting for the chance to see what is happening to her.

 

As I do so, I talk to the Bado shortly, learning more about his people and his father. He doesn't speak much to me before closing his eyes to rest, but I can get a sense of seriousness and sadness from him.

 

"We are a peaceful people, forced to fight to survive, utterly unlike the warlike Nahullo. My father… was gentle to the core. He took Sigils that let him hide, scout, and escape danger. Whispercloak was its name. To see what the Darklight did to him once Skytaker got their hold on him was… demoralizing, to say the least. A kind watchman to a depraved beast unable to speak. Should anyone reach that threshold like your friend here, I'll put them down before that change can happen."