Outside Influences

The cliff behind Bel shattered from the force of the lizard man’s invisible blows as she dove and rolled out of the way. Shrapnel buzzed through the air like a nest of angry wasps. Bel covered her face with her arms to shield herself from the spray, put her head down, and ran. She dodged from rock to rock, searching for an opportunity to catch her breath and face off with the cultists’ second in command, but he seemed determined to finish her off before she got the chance.

Maybe I could just tank a hit from his wind blasts? she wondered, as she kicked off of a rock and spun into a cartwheel that landed her on a higher ledge. A head-sized rock shattered into a cloud of pebbles and dust in the spot she’d just vacated.

Ah, maybe not. Even if I catch his attack on Kjar’s armor, the force of it would be something rough.

She kept moving, jumping higher up the rock face and leading her pursuer away from the sight of the ambush.

If I can distract him for long enough, that’ll give Orseis a chance to clean up the rest of their group.

Bel flipped herself over a small ledge and paused to take a few deep breaths.

If it’s two on one I think we can take him.

The ledge burst to pieces underneath her; Bel surged her pouncing ability through her legs at the last moment, propelling herself onto another perch a hundred strides away. The cultist whipped around as he tracked her path, his tail smashing through more rocks in frustration.

He’s gonna level the entire mountain if this keeps up. Maybe I should be talking. James always says that heroes in his world distract villains with chatter.

She turned over her shoulder and tried to grin confidently at the pursuing lizard man. “Your aim is so bad, you–”

Bel swallowed the rest of her words when the cultist took advantage of her momentary distraction to attack. Rather than throwing another ball of wind at her, he used his powers to propel his body instead. He hurtled through the air like a missile made of scale of muscles, clawed hands outstretched to impale her.

Bel’s eyes widened and the man’s lips skimmed back, revealing the toothy grin of a crocodile. She moved at the last moment, falling onto her back to duck under the attack. She kicked up at the same time, scoring her first hit and pushing him up, into the air, and off of the mountain.

Before she could celebrate though, the wind caught him in midair and turned him around. He whipped around and his thick tail emerged from under his cloak to slap her across the face.

To hell with tails, Bel cursed, spitting out a wad of blood from her split lip.

His clawed feet touched the ground and he charged.

Clearly he thinks beating me to death will be easier than throwing air.

Bel took one look at his rippling muscles and scale-covered body and didn’t like her chances. She looked at his eyes and glared, tensing her hands around her makeshift sword as she prepared for an opening. The lizard man averted his gaze down to her feet at the last moment though, avoiding her gorgonic ability.

Despite the lower gravity, she could feel the ground shuddered under the lizard man’s feet as he leaped at her. His surprisingly stubby arms reached out, eager to tear the life from her. Bel’s hands tensed around her weapon as she shifted her feet, hoping for an opportunity to get her sharped bone through his body – that would hopefully kill him faster than he would kill her.

She was so focused that when Orseis’ thrown boulder caught the man in the midsection, bending him over and tossing him into the ground, Bel didn’t react for several heartbeats. As soon as her mind caught up she launched herself at his prone form, her bone weapon lifted high. He looked up and she hit him with a glare powerful enough to pin him in place long enough for her to deliver a powerful stab straight into his midsection.

Bel shouted in triumph as she stabbed down with all her might, but the sword barely broke through his scaled skin before it snapped.

Bel stumbled forward from the sudden lack of resistance, taking her straight into range of a powerful backhand. Her neck snapped to the side painfully as she spun through the air. His claws had left a few more cuts along her cheek, but Bel wasn’t aware of anything other than a sudden sense of disorientation before she hit the ground.

The lizard man pushed himself up to his feet. He eagerly licked his lips, but before he could get to Bel he was sent stumbling back from a small barrage of rocks from Orseis. Bel could see the girl putting her six tentacles to work, blindly grasping for stones and hurling as fast as she could find them. The cultist was forced back for a moment, but only for a few heartbeats.

He snarled angrily and dug his clawed feet into the ground for purchase before executing a rapid flurry of strikes with his fists and tail. He obliterated the oncoming wave of rocks, breaking them apart like water dashing against a boats prow. Once the air of clear he punched, sending a blast of wind back towards Orseis. Bel couldn’t see it, but when the blast of wind struck Orseis it crushed her into the ground with so much force that she bounced.

Thank Kjar I made her a helmet before this fight, Bel thought as she forced her body upright.

She didn’t want to give her opponent any time to attack Orseis a second time, so she pounced.

He’s stronger than me and has too much power at a distance, so I’ll just have to get close and hope I can surprise him.

Bel flew through the air faster than he could react, an in an instant she grabbed onto the sleeve of his robe and jerked his body forward. As his body stumbled past her, Bel slipped her left arm behind his and placed it behind his neck, locking his left arm up and away from her. She slipped her right leg in front of his right foot and used his momentum to push him off balance. His clawed feet gripped the ground and his tail thrashed as he struggled to keep his footing, but Bel punched the back of his knee with her free hand, finally forcing him to the ground.

He snarled with fury as they rolled over the sharp rocks, his right elbow snapping back as he attempted to hit her in the gut. When he pushed down with his free arm to get off the ground, Bel slipped her right arm under his armpit to complete her hold. A quick jerk of her arm pulled his arm out of position and he collapsed face-first into the rocks.

Now I’ve got you, she rejoiced.

Her satisfaction was short lived. Bel tried to squeeze her hands together and push down on his neck, but his body swelled with a surge of energy. His muscled visibly bulged, forcing her hands apart. He struggled to his knees, then to his feet, all while Bel squeezed and pushed against him. His arms strained forward and Bel felt like her own arms would be pulled from their sockets.

The lizard man roared with his primal efforts, but his cry of victory of was cut short when Orseis wrapped a pair of tentacles around his snout and clamped it shut. Her other tentacles wrapped around his knees and she squeezed and jerked, pulling him off balance. The cultist staggered, but he remained upright. Worse, rather than tiring, Bel thought he was growing stronger by the moment.

Bel hissed with frustration as her muscles strained, and her snakes snapped at his eyes with frustration.

Brute force isn’t going to get this done.

She caught Orseis’ eye. “Grab his arm,” she commanded.

Orseis moved quickly to wrap his limb in half of her tentacles. Once his arm was pinned, she slipped on of her arms free and shoved her hand against his side, forcing liquify into the patch of scales. His cores were strong, but Bel could feel a bit of the energy making its way through despite his resistance. She applied liquify a second time to be sure, before reaching for the bone dagger at her side.

Knowing the end was coming, grunted with fury. He spun his body like a dancer, slamming Bel and Orseis into the rocks around them. The wind whipped around them, and the lizard leaped from the cliff, sending them all hurtling towards the rocks below.

Bel used that moment of weightlessness to pull her dagger free from her side. Her lips skimmed back with effort as she plunged it into his side. His scaled hide resisted for a moment, but with a grunt of effort Bel forced it through his tough scales and under his ribs. Once she’d broken his hide once, she didn’t stop. She stabbed him repeatedly, not letting go even as the three of them hit the ground.

The force of the impact sent them all sprawling, but Bel dragged herself back to her feet and rushed to the cultist’s side, ready to continue the fight.

Relief flooded her body when she saw his glassy-eyed stare. She realized that at some point during the fall he’d finally succumbed.

Bel wobbled back on shaky legs and she collapsed to the ground.

Orseis groaned. “That sucked.”

“Did we get them all?” Bel asked weakly.

“Yeah, I verified the other ones. Sorry, that’s why I was so late.” She gestured at the dead lizard man. “I stopped to drain their cores, in case it would help. You should take his energy.”

Bel nodded and reached down, grateful for the easy energy boost. “Better safe than getting surprised.” She gestured to their defeated foe. “Just look what happened to him.”

Bel finger touched his limp arm and she cracked his core open with a sharp force of will. She gasped as his energy flowed into her, expanding her own core rapidly.

“Wow, he was definitely third core. Feels like he was pretty strong too – with him and Rikja I went up five thresholds.”

“Yeah, that was close. Too close, Bel,” Orseis said grimly as she looked over the fresh scrapes and bruised she’d gotten.

She pulled her helmet from her head, examining the surface that was now scratched and cracked. “Thanks for this. I guess I would have gotten another one of those concussions without it.”

She poked at a large hole in the outer layer and shuddered. “Or maybe worse.”

Bel nodded. “Yeah. We need more preparation to take on Nebamon at their camp.”

A loud shriek cut through the air, and Bel and Orseis quickly threw themselves behind a nearby rock.

“What in hells was that?” Bel wondered aloud.

She looked up to see a small object gaining altitude above them until it finally burst into a puff of orange sparks.

“I wouldn’t worry about going after their camp,” a calm voice called out to them. “Once they see that signal they’ll come running.”

Bel slowly leaned out from behind the rock.

“Crystal,” she said warily. “So you can talk.”

She grimaced when she saw that the patchwork Crystal was now wielding the bird man’s god-gifted spear.

The woman nodded. “Sure, I can talk. I made some modifications. It’s allowed.”

Bels’ eyebrows went up. “Allowed? So you’re just Technis’ puppet now? That doesn’t sound like the Crystal I knew.”

Crystal snorted. “Well yeah. I’m not Crystal, I’m just using her body.”

“Gross,” Orseis whispered. “Did they suck out her brains?”

“The process is nothing so crude,” Crystal began.

“She’s wasting our time,” Bel realized. “She wants to get us all in one spot, but if start running she’ll have to chase after us.”

Crystal shook her finger. “Not quite. I can track you just fine, so if you go running I’ll just let you go.”

She gestured to the dead cultist. “These guys became way more troublesome once they started building weapons and set up a home base, so I’ll be focusing on them for now.”

Bel shook her head. “So you want us to let you finish off the only thing that’s threatening you? You’ll just hunt us down after that. We’d be better off fighting you together.”

The Crystal-like patchwork person grinned. “Sure, you try that. This body’s memories don’t think it’s likely that you’ll be able to work together, but go for it.”

Bel huffed, but she knew that Crystal was right.

“Hey Bel,” Orseis whispered, “maybe we should make a break for it?”

Bel glanced warily at Crystal’s spear. If it still worked the way it had with the bird man – and she had no reason to think that it wouldn’t – then it would return to Crystal’s hands even if she threw it wildly. The woman was standing thirty or so strides distant, but Bel would have bet that she could easily hit them if they emerged from behind their rocky cover.

“Well?” the patchwork woman asked, “what’s it gonna be? Fight or flight?”