Outside Influences

If Bel’s guess was right, then Crystal was running low on essence. It made sense since she’d just blown through the doors to a giant fortress and battled an entire group of giants in her single-minded pursuit of Bel. Hopefully that takes her most powerful weapons off the table.

Crystal still had her less powerful abilities and the divine spear, but Bel preferred those odds.

“Since you’re being so talkative, mind telling me what’s going on in Satrap?” Bel asked with a smile.

Crystal shrugged. “How would I know? Inquisitor Clark put me back together and sent me after anyone who threatened Technis’ domain.”

“Put you back together?” Bel scoffed. “More like messed you up – whose arm do you think that is that’s sticking out of your elbow?”

Crystal glanced at the extra limb. “Well, it’s mine now.”

“And that doesn’t bother you? That Technis’ priests desecrated your body, sucked every bit of you out of your brain, and turned you into an abomination?”

Crystal grinned. “Technis is great!” she replied with immediate enthusiasm.

Bel decided that she’d had enough of the patchwork person’s nonsense. Kjar, Lempo, don’t ever let that happen to me, she prayed.

She pounced, hoping that at close range her abilities would be better than Crystal’s slow-charging wands. When she saw the gleam in Crystal’s eyes she realized that perhaps Crystal had been baiting her.

The patchwork woman spun in place and whipped her artificially lengthened tail at Bel fast enough to make sound as it cut through the air. Bel had no chance to dodge, so she pivoted her overweight metal club about its center, lifting one end of it high enough to intercept the attack. Crystal’s tail struck the club with a thunderous clang that sent shivers through Bel’s straining arms. The momentum of the strike forced her to one knee on the ground and there was enough force left over that she slid back a full stride along polished stone floor.

Crystal continued the spin from her tail attack and used the momentum to fuel a powerful throw of her stolen spear. Bel attempted to repeat her parry, but the spear flew as fast as a rock from James’ sling. It zipped past her guard on its way to her chest, the spotless blade gleaming with an eager light.

The individual plates of Kjar’s divine gift lit with a glowing filigree as the spear neared. The armor had never failed her, but when the divine spear struck it forced itself into a small gap between two of the plates. The scales of her lamellar armor glowed as they pulled tightly together, preventing the spear from biting deeply, but the shallow wound still burned with a throbbing agony that ached with every breath.

“Soon my task will be complete,” Crystal cackled. She recalled the spear with a gesture, causing it to burst into a cloud of reddish dust that rushed back to her waiting hand.

Bel stumbled backwards from the intense and unexpected agony, still reeling from her rapid failure and injury. In her head she knew it was a shallow wound, no deeper than her pinky nail, but it hurt as though she’d been stabbed through. Her overconfidence burned just as much as the injury.

How am I so weak and stupid? she moaned internally.

Crystal stepped forward and Bel hastily raised her weapon to guard against another attack from the spear. With a flourish and a flick of her wrist, Crystal instead pointed her wand at the ground, once again surprising Bel. The gorgon could feel a pressure building beneath her feet, an ominous rumble that presaged an assault from the rock beneath her feet.

Bel slammed her foot into the ground and liquified the section in front of her before driving a shockwave into the viscous material to counter’s Crystal’s attack. A shudder rolled through the ground as the forces rushed to meet one another, sending Bel and Crystal stumbling. When the attacks collided a spray of shattered rock erupted from the ground between them, blocking Bel’s sight.

Anticipating an attack, Bel flipped into the air. She spun as she leaped and used the momentum to swing her club in Crystal’s direction. When the club was in the right spot, Bel hit it with a pulse of liquify, converting the upper third of the hunk of metal into a viscous fluid. It stretched like taffy, straining forward through the force of its inertia until it snapped from the end of the club. The now solidifying band of metal spun through the air on a collision course with Crystal’s last location.

The area below Bel’s height erupted in a blinding flash as Crystal flooded the area with lightning. Bel reflexively tucked her legs to maximize her distance from the force below her, but she kept her eye trained on Crystal, hoping to see the result of her own attack. The crackle of lightning faded and Bel heard a heavy thud through the cloud of rock and dust.

The moment her feet touched the ground, Bel rushed forward, eager to put Crystal on the back foot. Instead of attacking though, she skid to a halt when she saw the familiar blue glow of Technis’ barrier. A quick glance showed a hunk of metal lying on the outside of the smaller barrier. Bel clicked her tongue with frustration.

Crystal eyed her mockingly from the other side when she saw Bel’s look of dismay. The patchwork woman dropped her protection as she pointed another wand at Bel. This time a plume of flame leaped at her, quickly engulfing the gorgon.

Bel instinctively crossed her arms over her face while she used thermal regulation to channel the heat into Sparky, her little magma snake. It was enough to stop her from instantly cooking, but the volume of fire and heat disoriented Bel and she found herself stumbling back towards the far wall of the room. Crystal stalked forward, fueling her wand with enough energy to bathe Bel in a continuous deluge of fire. Bel grit her teeth and whimpered with frustration as she was forced up against the smoothed rocks.

Her skin tightened and strained until she felt like she would burst like a potato.

Hell no, I’m not getting cooked, she thought angrily. Dutcha’s would never let a little thing like being set on fire slow her down.

Bel reached for her new, untested mix spirits ability, determined to grasp at any straws available. Energy traced the patterns in her core and flooded through her body and into her magma snake. The small spirit’s essence became less distinct from Bel’s own as it melted into her body.

Bel howled as Sparky’s outrage at Crystal’s feeble flames bled into her own fear and anger. Her skin grew thick and dark like volcanic rock and crackled like a rockslide as she moved. Crystal’s fiery assault continued, but now Bel greedily drank it in. As she absorbed more heat from the flames her skin cracked to reveal veins of heated rock underneath.

Bel surged forward, awkward under her sudden weight but propelled by a deep, burning rage. Crystal’s wand finally sputtered out and she stared at surprise at the burning creature barrelling towards her.

Bel roared when she saw Crystal’s face. The patchwork woman tapped her chest to once again summon her protective barrier. Bel snarled is disdain at the cowardly response.

Bel whipped her metal club at Crystal, smashing it against the hateful blue barrier without any effect. The elemental acted on pure instinct, melting her weapon into a cord of liquid iron as she swung it around Crystal’s spherical barrier. The molten metal formed a band most of the way around the sphere, which Bel used to pull Crystal forward.

Crystal dug her heels into the ground, but Bel had gained the weight of a person-sized pile of stone.

“There’s no way you can keep that going for long,” Crystal threatened, even as she was dragged towards the edge of the room’s spiral stairs.

Bel grunted as she leaped over the edge of hole that held the spiral stairs, taking Crystal with her. Once they were both in the air, Bel hauled on the handle of her metal band and used her increased weight to hurl Crystal at the opposite wall.

Bel landed on the stairs coming from the closer wall and collapsed after the exertion. As she lay gasping for breath her body separated from her magma snake’s essence and the small snake reclaimed its normal perch on her head. The layer of stone covering her skin crackled and broke free from her body, leaving behind a healthy and untarnished layer of her regular skin. The twin tattoos of Kjar and Dutcha going down her arms faintly glowed.

Bel groaned as she pulled herself to her feet. She was flesh and blood once again, and she couldn’t have felt more tired.

I don’t have time to sit here groaning, she scolded herself.

Bel pushed herself towards the edge of the stairway – which didn’t have railings, she noticed. James would be screaming about safety.

She’d thrown Crystal down to the next turn, leaving a crater in the opposite wall and a very angry Crystal staring up at her.

“Eat crow,” she cursed at the persistent patchwork woman.

Crystal worked her jaw as she tried to speak, but something had gone wrong with her chest. The blue device that had been generating her personal barrier had cracked and blood oozed freely down her front side. Crystal looked down at the mess and paused, momentarily confused.

Then she looked back at Bel and bared her teeth in a feral threat.

Bel reached down for…

Nope, no weapons again. Gods, now I understand why Beth keeps so many damn daggers.

Crystal pulled out a wand, sending Bel scrambling back from the edge of the steps. When she waved the small metal rod nothing came out; instead Crystal lifted into the air and hovered a few hand spans above the ground. Bel was underwhelmed by the effect until Crystal launched herself through the air. She was going straight towards Bel, spear and dagger held wide like the jaws of a hunting spider.

Bel danced back and lifted her arms into a fighting stance. Most of her abilities still had a use left, but she held back since she had no idea how much more energy Crystal had for her own abilities. Am I seriously going to fight her with my fists, though?

Crystal landed on the edge of the step and jabbed forward with her spear. Bel spun out of the way, but Crystal was persistent, jabbing with every step, continually forcing Bel back. The stairs seemed to go down forever, so Bel thought about retreating until Crystal grew tired.

It’s just as likely that I’ll trip. Maybe more likely. I’m just going to have to go for it, Bel realized.

She waited for Crystal’s next jab to make her move. Bel jumped back in time with the attack and then rushed forward with the retreating tip of the spear. The air around her hand compressed and she emptied most of her second core to throw forward a powerful shockwave.

Crystal whipped her wand up and the air around them was suddenly gone, taking the shockwave with it. The void pulled at Bel’s lungs, hungrily trying to claim the air in them even as the air around them rushing into the void with a ear-splitting shriek. Knowing that this was her last chance, Bel barely broke stride, even with Crystal thrust her spear forward again.

They were too close for the long weapon, and Crystal had been paying more attention to her wand arm. Bel leaned to the side and caught the spear between her arm and her body. She held the wooden haft of the weapon in place with her right hand as she body slammed into Crystal.

She’d been hoping to wrench the weapon away from her, but Crystal managed to hold on as she staggered back a step. Crystal dropped the wand from the lower hand in her awkward double-arm and used it to grapple with Bel’s left arm. That left her third arm clear to slash at Bel’s neck. Crystal grinned triumphantly as her knife bit into Bel’s throat, easily tearing a wide gash straight through.

The flesh of Bel’s neck rippled after the knife’s passage before joining back together, like a pond after a skipping stone passed over it. I knew that ability would be awesome, Bel self-congratulated.

Bel freed her right hand and pushed on the hilt of Crystal’s knife, co-opting its momentum to aim the point straight at Crystal’s face. Crystal tried to take a step back, but Bel slipped a foot behind her heel and pushed forward. Crystal tripped, but her other right arm was still gripped onto Bel’s left hand and they both went tumbling to the ground.

As they fell, Bel pushed her weight down on the dagger, hoping to score a killing blow. When they hit the ground Crystal’s warped dual-arm wasn’t strong enough to hold the blade away, and it stabbed through her eye.

Crystal’s body twitched and kicked, still moving despite what should have been a fatal wound. Bel had seen plenty of patchwork people in the bowels of Technis’ temple, so she knew exactly where to strike next. She pulled her arm back and thrust it into the cracked shell on Crystal’s chest, burrowing straight into her chest cavity.

She was up to her elbow in gore by the time she found what she was looking for: Crystal’s power source. There were seven of the solidified sources of essence, batteries that had enough energy to power all of Crystal’s abilities. Bel ran her hand over them to pull out their essence. Even mostly empty, the power they held was incredible; Bel gained a threshold for each, putting her two thresholds away from being able to form her third core.

She was exhausted, but Bel still grabbed the spear possessively.

At least I got something out of it, she though tiredly as she leaned back with a loud sigh of relief.

At least that’s over. I hope Orseis has been okay. James is gonna give me an earful too.

She idly rubbed the earring between her fingers. The mountain overhead seemed to have blocked his regular calls, so she was looking forward to getting out.

A grinding sound of stone rubbing stone made her look up. Up and down the stairs hidden alcoves are opening up to reveal the giants who had been hiding behind them. Oh, they’ve just been waiting for one of us to kill the other. Fantastic.

Why does this always happen to me?

Bel tapped the steps in front of her, using her last dregs of energy to liquify the rock. A large section of rock slumped and fell, taking two of the giants with it. Another one leaped to avoid falling, but the large gap in the stairs cut off the giant’s approach from that side.

Bel turned to face the other direction, hoping fervently that none of the giants were carrying any ranged weapons.