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Day 25: Buddy
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Day 24:
Dig
That grin pulled unnaturally wide as the clawed hand came down.
He didn’t even get the chance to react. Dlmor was suddenly on two legs taking a swipe at the thing with its own clawed hand. The thing dodged, claws passing a hair’s breadth from his head, his back, and scraping against the floor. The thing seemed to laugh and panic filled his chest.
There was a blur of movement from the thing and pain shot through his entire body. He watched in disbelief as Dlmor was separated into several pieces before the form broke. Unlike the Ilnu, Dlmor’s body behaved more like putty and splattered on the ground without spraying everywhere. The substance was the same blue black as Dlmor’s fur and looked like it was filled with glitter. His eyes were immediately drawn to a point of light that was growing brighter. He recognized it as Dlmor’s core as the last of the substance slipped from its surface. It burned like a star in among the substance.
Terror shot him into a dive as the thing pulled its hand back for another attack. The ground bit into his chest, loose floor and chunks of concrete scraping at his skin and leaving abrasions and cuts, but his hands closed around the glowing core, moving it just enough that when the claws made contact, they buried themselves into his arms instead.
A cry of pain escaped him but it was a trained response rather than an actual response to pain. His arms were numb. He could barely feel the core in his hands let alone the claws buried in his forearms. The thing yanked its claws out. A moment later hands were pulling him up and out of something that felt and looked like soot.
The substance that had made Dlmor’s form had turned into something very similar to soot.
Something shot passed his face and his eyes came up to take in the scene. There were a scattering of creatures that had been shoved aside. The thing had an arm extended towards him, stretching past his face towards something he couldn’t see.
The grin on the thing’s face only grew and dread filled his veins. He slowly turned his head. Horror filled him as he realized that the thing had just impaled Tolnoran. He was sure there was screaming as the thing flexed its hand and tore Tolnoran apart. Something yanked on him, turning him away.
The pull, the movement drew his attention to Elias. The man was screaming but he couldn’t hear it. Rage and sorrow were evident in how the man stood, how the man barked something. Trevak shot past as a burr of colors. Time seemed to slow as Trevak’s mouth opened wide inches from the thing’s form.
He didn’t even see the other set of claws move until they were already on the other side of the Tor. All he saw was Trevak about to bite down on the thing, several lines appeared around Trevak’s head and neck as the other set of claws just appeared where they weren’t supposed to be, and then Trevak’s form gave out. He caught Elias collapsing out of the corner of his eye as Trevak’s form turned into something that was far more liquid than Dlmor’s. He spotted the core just as the thing swiped at it.
There was the faint sound of glass shattering as Trevak’s core shattered into many pieces.
A Jaun shot past, this one reminding him of a golden retriever with its golden fur and sections of long fur in the chest and along the tail. The Jaun was quick and vicious, moving in and attacking when other creatures were taken out. It only lasted for a second; the thing threw the Jaun into the wall before one of those clawed hands shot at him again. It wasn’t aimed at him and he realized it too late. He reached out like he could stop it but all he managed was getting his palm sliced as the claws bit into Cass. He looked away as soon as one of the claws went through her neck, his mind readily supplying the dismemberment he knew was coming. Instead, he turned his gaze on the Jaun, and watched as it staggered to its feet enough to look back towards him and Cass. There was regret, sorrow, and fear in the creature’s expression before its form gave out. The core shattered when it hit the ground.
It dawned on him that the Jaun was probably Cass’s Chief.
A streak of silver shot past his head and embedded itself into the thing’s shoulder. The thing recoiled from the impact but the grin on the thing’s face seemed to only grow. A creature he had never seen before shot past him, shaking the ground. It looked like a Belvren, but there was something off about it that he couldn’t quite place. Still, the new creature’s fist impacted the thing’s face, sending it flying down the hall.
Hands grabbed him, pulled at him, and he found himself being hurried along by his sister. Lora was barely a few paced behind where he had been standing loosing another silver arrow. The bow was far grander than the first time he had seen it where it had looked like nothing more than a shadow imitation of one. He only saw it for the short instance it took for him and his sister to run past but the bow looked complex and gorgeous. Wood intertwined with silver and crafted some complex design for the handle of the bow. The limps started out thick and complexly designed before thinning out into a single thin pull of silver that looked far too weak to be able to take the pull of the bowstring.
He was shoved on, his sister right beside him. They got barely ten good strides away from the mess before her body jerked forward beside him. The horror he was already feeling increased as he turned, catching sight of the claws protruding from her body in a line from her forehead down. The claws were yanked free and he instinctively reached out to catch her body.
He misstepped. That combined with her dead weight threw them both to the ground. Sorrow and grief started to build as he pulled her body close in a one arm hug, his other pinned against his chest where he still desperately clung to Dlmor’s core at the top of his sternum. He barely knew her, barely knew the person she had become, and all he could think about was how she had left her family behind to come save him and now those kids would never see their mommy again. The thought broke something in him and he pressed his face into her hair.
He couldn’t hear the scream he was letting out but he could feel it. He could feel how the air tore at his throat as he emptied his lungs. He could feel the pull on his face from his mouth opening as wide as it could, lips pulled back to keep teeth bared as he sucked in another lung full to scream again.
Hands pulled at him. They didn’t give him the chance to fight as they pulled him from the dead body. They didn’t give him a chance to retaliate as they tried to drag him away from danger. They didn’t give him a chance to even warn them before he was forced to watch claws dig into flesh over and over again. One human fell, then two, then another, and the creatures sent as interference never returned; their human companions collapsing dead when they’re eradicated. He turned in the midst of all of this to face the Olnvorox at the other end of the hallway. He could make out Lora’s lifeless body among the rubble. He couldn’t tell if the Olnvorox had gotten her or her companion first.
It met his gaze. The leisure grin on its face stretched unnaturally wide, mocking him as it gave a sharp sweep of its arm. The numerous creatures that were attacking all lost their forms, many of the cores already shattered before they even started to fall.
There was no stopping the Olnvorox and the thing was very aware of this. What he didn’t understand was why it was toying with him. Why was it keeping him alive when it killed without care.
The thing’s grin only grew more.
He realized it was toying with him, playing, and saving him for last.
Pain shot through his head, like something had landed a glancing blow against his brain. It sent a fog over his brain and blots of black filled his vision but he didn’t lose hold of the Olnvorox’s gaze.
He felt his lips separate, skin pulling and splitting in the action. The tip of his tongue brushed the roof of his tongue, the back of his teeth, his jaw working as he said something he couldn’t hear. He couldn’t tell if it was just one word or a string of them but the thing heard him and its eyes narrowed at him.
There was a burst of light from the hand clenched at his chest and echoes of burning pain raced down his arm. His spoke again as he held his closed fist out, fingers towards the ceiling, but the sounds he spoke never made it to his ears. The light from between his fingers intensified and the Olnvorox shifted its stance.
He opened his hand as he said one final thing.
A scream unlike anything he had ever heard filled the air and tore at his ears, at his mind, but he didn’t flinch. The core left his palm and some glowing form took shape around it. As the last of his vision went, he managed to witness the shape of light collide with the shadow that was the Olnvorox, phasing into the shadow before the Olnvorox’s form stuttered and exploded into a shower of sparks and glittering dust. The glowing form faded and through the haze of black encroaching on his vision, he thought he saw the glowing core shatter against the ground.
“Artemis.”
He opened his eyes as breath filled his chest. Elias’s worried face came into focus, the man’s hands wrapped around the base of his skull supporting his head. Confusion swam through him even as he reached up and grabbed at the front of Elias’s shirt with a trembling hand. “You’re ok,” Elias assured him in a soft voice. “I’ve got you.”
The weight on his chest shifted and his other hand came up finding familiar fur under his fingers when he went to touch his chest. Dlmor pressed its nose into his arm, a keen whine escaping.
Elias’s thumb rubbed at the side of his neck and skull. “You’re ok,” he repeated. “You’re safe.”
“Well, as safe as one can be with Olnvorox running around,” Cass commented somewhere off near his left foot.
“We don’t know if it’s more than one,” Tolnoran berated from somewhere behind Elias on his right.
A scowl crossed Elias’s face before the man looked over his shoulder at the other two. “Will the two of you stop arguing long enough for me to make sure Artemis is alright?” Silence followed the man’s words. It seemed to be enough because Elias turned back to him. “Artemis?”
“Whu…” he started but the word caught in his dry throat. He swallowed and tried again. “What happened?”
“You passed out,” Elias informed him, “but your Dlmor acted as if you had been attacked.”
The flickering memory of the Olnvorox standing over him but there were two versions of the same memory: the one that was the stronger of Dlmor attacking the Olnvorox before the thing could touch him, the weaker being of the thing’s hand touching him without slicing into him. The weaker memory left him with the impression the Olnvorox had closed its hand around his mind. It sent a shudder down his spine. “I-I was attacked, I think.” Neither memory seemed overly solid, though, leaving the impression of a dream rather than reality. “It’s…I can’t really tell but during the dream-hallucination-whatever if it was, I was attacked.”
He didn’t even get the chance to react. Dlmor was suddenly on two legs taking a swipe at the thing with its own clawed hand. The thing dodged, claws passing a hair’s breadth from his head, his back, and scraping against the floor. The thing seemed to laugh and panic filled his chest.
There was a blur of movement from the thing and pain shot through his entire body. He watched in disbelief as Dlmor was separated into several pieces before the form broke. Unlike the Ilnu, Dlmor’s body behaved more like putty and splattered on the ground without spraying everywhere. The substance was the same blue black as Dlmor’s fur and looked like it was filled with glitter. His eyes were immediately drawn to a point of light that was growing brighter. He recognized it as Dlmor’s core as the last of the substance slipped from its surface. It burned like a star in among the substance.
Terror shot him into a dive as the thing pulled its hand back for another attack. The ground bit into his chest, loose floor and chunks of concrete scraping at his skin and leaving abrasions and cuts, but his hands closed around the glowing core, moving it just enough that when the claws made contact, they buried themselves into his arms instead.
A cry of pain escaped him but it was a trained response rather than an actual response to pain. His arms were numb. He could barely feel the core in his hands let alone the claws buried in his forearms. The thing yanked its claws out. A moment later hands were pulling him up and out of something that felt and looked like soot.
The substance that had made Dlmor’s form had turned into something very similar to soot.
Something shot passed his face and his eyes came up to take in the scene. There were a scattering of creatures that had been shoved aside. The thing had an arm extended towards him, stretching past his face towards something he couldn’t see.
The grin on the thing’s face only grew and dread filled his veins. He slowly turned his head. Horror filled him as he realized that the thing had just impaled Tolnoran. He was sure there was screaming as the thing flexed its hand and tore Tolnoran apart. Something yanked on him, turning him away.
The pull, the movement drew his attention to Elias. The man was screaming but he couldn’t hear it. Rage and sorrow were evident in how the man stood, how the man barked something. Trevak shot past as a burr of colors. Time seemed to slow as Trevak’s mouth opened wide inches from the thing’s form.
He didn’t even see the other set of claws move until they were already on the other side of the Tor. All he saw was Trevak about to bite down on the thing, several lines appeared around Trevak’s head and neck as the other set of claws just appeared where they weren’t supposed to be, and then Trevak’s form gave out. He caught Elias collapsing out of the corner of his eye as Trevak’s form turned into something that was far more liquid than Dlmor’s. He spotted the core just as the thing swiped at it.
There was the faint sound of glass shattering as Trevak’s core shattered into many pieces.
A Jaun shot past, this one reminding him of a golden retriever with its golden fur and sections of long fur in the chest and along the tail. The Jaun was quick and vicious, moving in and attacking when other creatures were taken out. It only lasted for a second; the thing threw the Jaun into the wall before one of those clawed hands shot at him again. It wasn’t aimed at him and he realized it too late. He reached out like he could stop it but all he managed was getting his palm sliced as the claws bit into Cass. He looked away as soon as one of the claws went through her neck, his mind readily supplying the dismemberment he knew was coming. Instead, he turned his gaze on the Jaun, and watched as it staggered to its feet enough to look back towards him and Cass. There was regret, sorrow, and fear in the creature’s expression before its form gave out. The core shattered when it hit the ground.
It dawned on him that the Jaun was probably Cass’s Chief.
A streak of silver shot past his head and embedded itself into the thing’s shoulder. The thing recoiled from the impact but the grin on the thing’s face seemed to only grow. A creature he had never seen before shot past him, shaking the ground. It looked like a Belvren, but there was something off about it that he couldn’t quite place. Still, the new creature’s fist impacted the thing’s face, sending it flying down the hall.
Hands grabbed him, pulled at him, and he found himself being hurried along by his sister. Lora was barely a few paced behind where he had been standing loosing another silver arrow. The bow was far grander than the first time he had seen it where it had looked like nothing more than a shadow imitation of one. He only saw it for the short instance it took for him and his sister to run past but the bow looked complex and gorgeous. Wood intertwined with silver and crafted some complex design for the handle of the bow. The limps started out thick and complexly designed before thinning out into a single thin pull of silver that looked far too weak to be able to take the pull of the bowstring.
He was shoved on, his sister right beside him. They got barely ten good strides away from the mess before her body jerked forward beside him. The horror he was already feeling increased as he turned, catching sight of the claws protruding from her body in a line from her forehead down. The claws were yanked free and he instinctively reached out to catch her body.
He misstepped. That combined with her dead weight threw them both to the ground. Sorrow and grief started to build as he pulled her body close in a one arm hug, his other pinned against his chest where he still desperately clung to Dlmor’s core at the top of his sternum. He barely knew her, barely knew the person she had become, and all he could think about was how she had left her family behind to come save him and now those kids would never see their mommy again. The thought broke something in him and he pressed his face into her hair.
He couldn’t hear the scream he was letting out but he could feel it. He could feel how the air tore at his throat as he emptied his lungs. He could feel the pull on his face from his mouth opening as wide as it could, lips pulled back to keep teeth bared as he sucked in another lung full to scream again.
Hands pulled at him. They didn’t give him the chance to fight as they pulled him from the dead body. They didn’t give him a chance to retaliate as they tried to drag him away from danger. They didn’t give him a chance to even warn them before he was forced to watch claws dig into flesh over and over again. One human fell, then two, then another, and the creatures sent as interference never returned; their human companions collapsing dead when they’re eradicated. He turned in the midst of all of this to face the Olnvorox at the other end of the hallway. He could make out Lora’s lifeless body among the rubble. He couldn’t tell if the Olnvorox had gotten her or her companion first.
It met his gaze. The leisure grin on its face stretched unnaturally wide, mocking him as it gave a sharp sweep of its arm. The numerous creatures that were attacking all lost their forms, many of the cores already shattered before they even started to fall.
There was no stopping the Olnvorox and the thing was very aware of this. What he didn’t understand was why it was toying with him. Why was it keeping him alive when it killed without care.
The thing’s grin only grew more.
He realized it was toying with him, playing, and saving him for last.
Pain shot through his head, like something had landed a glancing blow against his brain. It sent a fog over his brain and blots of black filled his vision but he didn’t lose hold of the Olnvorox’s gaze.
He felt his lips separate, skin pulling and splitting in the action. The tip of his tongue brushed the roof of his tongue, the back of his teeth, his jaw working as he said something he couldn’t hear. He couldn’t tell if it was just one word or a string of them but the thing heard him and its eyes narrowed at him.
There was a burst of light from the hand clenched at his chest and echoes of burning pain raced down his arm. His spoke again as he held his closed fist out, fingers towards the ceiling, but the sounds he spoke never made it to his ears. The light from between his fingers intensified and the Olnvorox shifted its stance.
He opened his hand as he said one final thing.
A scream unlike anything he had ever heard filled the air and tore at his ears, at his mind, but he didn’t flinch. The core left his palm and some glowing form took shape around it. As the last of his vision went, he managed to witness the shape of light collide with the shadow that was the Olnvorox, phasing into the shadow before the Olnvorox’s form stuttered and exploded into a shower of sparks and glittering dust. The glowing form faded and through the haze of black encroaching on his vision, he thought he saw the glowing core shatter against the ground.
“Artemis.”
He opened his eyes as breath filled his chest. Elias’s worried face came into focus, the man’s hands wrapped around the base of his skull supporting his head. Confusion swam through him even as he reached up and grabbed at the front of Elias’s shirt with a trembling hand. “You’re ok,” Elias assured him in a soft voice. “I’ve got you.”
The weight on his chest shifted and his other hand came up finding familiar fur under his fingers when he went to touch his chest. Dlmor pressed its nose into his arm, a keen whine escaping.
Elias’s thumb rubbed at the side of his neck and skull. “You’re ok,” he repeated. “You’re safe.”
“Well, as safe as one can be with Olnvorox running around,” Cass commented somewhere off near his left foot.
“We don’t know if it’s more than one,” Tolnoran berated from somewhere behind Elias on his right.
A scowl crossed Elias’s face before the man looked over his shoulder at the other two. “Will the two of you stop arguing long enough for me to make sure Artemis is alright?” Silence followed the man’s words. It seemed to be enough because Elias turned back to him. “Artemis?”
“Whu…” he started but the word caught in his dry throat. He swallowed and tried again. “What happened?”
“You passed out,” Elias informed him, “but your Dlmor acted as if you had been attacked.”
The flickering memory of the Olnvorox standing over him but there were two versions of the same memory: the one that was the stronger of Dlmor attacking the Olnvorox before the thing could touch him, the weaker being of the thing’s hand touching him without slicing into him. The weaker memory left him with the impression the Olnvorox had closed its hand around his mind. It sent a shudder down his spine. “I-I was attacked, I think.” Neither memory seemed overly solid, though, leaving the impression of a dream rather than reality. “It’s…I can’t really tell but during the dream-hallucination-whatever if it was, I was attacked.”
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Day 25: Buddy
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