The previous Sassy Saturday post can be read here: Fighting zombies, mages and memories
The context for this post: Tiza and Nolien along with other allies are attempting to escape Mt.Heios, which is basically a den of corruptive magical energy and really powerful monsters. On Tvtropes, this sort of situation is what we call "The Godzilla Threshold".
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Their destination was Mount Heios,
where Tiza, Nolien, and Vaya were running for their lives.
Monsters everywhere were eating each
other. They were slashing, biting, smashing, pounding, and melting each other. The
tussle between a reaper and a Bladi drove then into a frenzy. Every monster
without a meal looked to the small, insignificant-looking creatures and deemed
them an easy target.
The fungi that Neuro was thrown into
was poisonous to mind, body, and spirit, so he was out of action. Tiza had to
carry him on her back. In his current state, he was the lightest of all of
them.
Looking around, Tiza scanned the horde
for known breeds and quickly guesstimated what they were and what they could
do. Large, old, grown strong on a diet of Fog and the mana-drenched meat of
others, they ranked as B class monsters. She took stock of her equipment and
her allies and possible strategies in a moment. Then she closed her eyes,
removed her safety mask, and muttered, “Spider Daylra, all conditions have been
met.” The monsters pounced. She opened her eyes and shouted, “Light come
forth!”
Suddenly, the monsters halted. Their
instincts shouted danger of the creature that multiplied its own power
instantly. Tiza's eyes glowed with blue light and her body glowed with a pale
blue aura. She blurred past a monster and side-kicked a second to open a path
down the mountain.
She deflected a third monster reaching
for Vaya and then turned aside a fourth bounding toward Nolien. Her light
flickered, but she took a deep breath and renewed it. Then she tossed both her
companions over her shoulder and ran down the mountain slope towards the edge
of the Fog Cloud.
The monsters followed her. Hideous and
misshapen, they chased her relentlessly. It was only by the power of Videlicet
Mens that she stayed ahead of them. Only with the greatest effort did she
maintain its effect. She took one deep breath after another and each one
empowered her to greater heights. They also eroded her health and sanity.
Her hair was matted against her head
with sweat. Her body heaved; a feat made dangerous by the thick Fog. No longer
taking controlled breaths, the Fog began to pulse erratically within her body.
Her skin turned both sickly pale and translucent. Nolien recognized the
symptoms, but she did not. She was no longer concerned with them. She was not
aware of them. The light of Videlicet Mens blinded her to everything but her
goal. She was developing monsanity, the insanity known only to monsters.
As the seconds passed and she grew
wearier, the monsters grew closer. They grew close enough for Nolien to count
their teeth. A titanic monster stepped into her path, but Tiza jumped ten feet
and kicked it in the stomach. Empowered by Videlicet Mens, the Fog, and her
fierce determination, she knocked it over and then ran over its face. She
jumped off it and continued her sprint uninterrupted all the way out of the Fog
Cloud.
On her way down, she tripped and
skidded down the slopes. The three people she was carrying tumbled in three
directions. She breathed as deep and fast as she could but it was hard,
painful, and futile in the thin air of Ceiha. Nolien rushed to her side to
begin treatment, then paused when he looked back at the Fog Cloud. The monsters
were following them.
They started heaving as he did when he
first entered Ceiha's territorial waters. It was slow and clumsy, but they
continued stalking forwards. The smallest ones adapted quicker and moved
faster. Soon, they would be overrun. Nolien was calculating the odds of running
again when he heard something shocking.
Tiza whimpered. Nolien would never forget it.
Indomitable Tiza was afraid. His own safety was suddenly less important and
saving her became his priority. Now...how do I do it...?
You can't do it, Honorable Elder
Brother. Give up.
The healer ignored it and made more
plans, but it followed him. It pointed out every flaw in every one. He could
hear it laughing at him. Admit it. You can't do it.
Tiza flickered like a sputtering candle
and, suddenly, it dawned on him. I can't!
“As I am Chaos, you are Order divine.
As the sun to the moon, you shall shine. Take my power and me mine!” His slip
made his face burn. He swore he could hear The Trickster laughing. “I mean like
a leyline! MANA TRANSFER!”
A blue tether shot from his staff to
Tiza's back and, instantly, all her fatigue disappeared. Empowered by Nolien,
she grabbed the horns of the monster about to gore him and used it as a club to
bash, smash, and flatten the last three monsters pursuing them. Then she tossed
that one into the air, channeled enough mana to her blade to make it a mana
blade, jumped up to the monster's level, and slashed off all its heads before
it crashed to the ground, dead. She landed lightly and stood tall. Then other
monsters caught up with it.
Unlike the three before, these were
bigger than she was. Their spirits were far stronger and, unlike her, they were
not exhausted. Instead of fighting them, she retreated. While she could not
defeat them, Ceiha itself could. Artfully, she drew them further and further
away from the Fog Cloud. One by one, they suffocated on the thin air. The sense
of self-preservation in the remaining monsters kicked in and they retreated to
the Fog Cloud.
Nolien had never been more in awe of
her. Together with the blue dress, she appeared as a sapphire reaper. Then she faced
him and he saw a monstrous look in her eyes.
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To learn more about the heroines of Journey to Chaos, visit the Tvtropes character sheet.
The next Sassy Saturday post is Sassing Death Gods
Brian Wilkerson is a freelance book reviewer, writing advice blogger and independent novelist. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).
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