Arc II – Chapter IX – In the Nick of Time

Light flashed from the top of a nearby building. Nick couldn’t fail to notice it, despite how tired he was. It felt like he was being drained. The cause was the invisible monster’s grip on his waist. It seemed that mere physical contact with these things would drain their victims.

He weakly turned his head and finally saw the vague outline of the thing holding him, probably an influence of being in its clutches. It had dark sockets in a see-through skull with pinpoint lights for pupils. Maybe its eyes weren’t emanating light so much as redirecting it. It had a faint aura about its skull and the suggestion of massive, shredded wings, extending to either side. Its body wavered strangely, appearing to be a wraith-like flame.

Nick felt his stomach sinking as the ground spun away below. He was airborne. The creature’s breathing was heavy.

“Hrrr…” It shifted Nick under an arm and he felt as though small crawling hands under its flesh shifted him around its back until he couldn’t see anything of it anymore. Its awful body odor filled the air. It took some time for Nick to notice, but the thing truly reeked. It smelled all kinds of wrong.

Nick opened his mouth to scream, but found that he didn't have the strength. His eyes grew heavy as he watched the landscape of the capital city slide past below.

Just before Nick was about to lose consciousness, a bolt of light shot past him.

Aurora raced past her target and positioned herself before the Victim. It stared vacantly at her as Aurora extended her staff. The tip of her staff overflowed and wings burst out from it to either side, leaving a trail of energy in the wind.

“Victim, if you still understand speech, let that human go. You don’t want to subject others to what you’ve been through.” In response to Aurora’s demands, the Victim’s mouth spread widely, filled with jagged bits of its anti light matter, resembling fangs.

Don’t try to reason with the Victims. Its mind is not its own anymore. Any attempts to bargain or plea with it will be met with indifference.

The Victim roared and its ragged flesh waved in the air, resembling decrepit clothing. It lowered its hands and antilight concentrated there.

Just kill it, Lodestar Aurora. It’s charging an attack. If its attack hits you, you will be drained.

“It eats energy?”

No. Its existence is anathema to ours. Physical contact causes a discharge of electrons in our matter. Aurora blinked as a shaft of antilight energy winked into existence in his hands.

“Rghhhh…” It breathed at her as its anti light energy solidified with equally what resembled flames licking it. It spun this newborn object in its hands and extended it towards Aurora.

“You said this one would be weak.”

It launched itself at Aurora with the tip of its weapon extended. Aurora’s wings flapped and she spun midair, diverting its weapon with her staff. Where they met, a strange phenomena flickered in the air. Little explosions of light and antilight warred, canceling each other.

Occasionally humanoid types possess a higher level, but it should still be manageable.

Aurora beat her wings and propelled herself higher, pointing her staff at the Victim, firing off a salvo of light beams. It flew by instinct, her attacks grazing its massive, hollow wings as her attacks strobed. Unconcerned, it beat its way upwards, raising its weapon with an outcry.

It’s determined to enter melee range. Override protocol.

Perkons’ energy sunk into Aurora’s shoulder and she felt her wings stop working. The Victim passed through. She got a good look at its back as it passed. Aurora’s eyes narrowed as she recognized its most recent victim. Nick hung weakly from its back with tendrils of its matter anchoring him to its back. 

Her eyes shifted into the strange light vision that she’d previously experienced on the basketball court. Its antilight particles were surrounding and invading Nick’s body’s cells, but it was a very gradual process. Given several hours, Nick might wake, finding himself a creature not unlike his captor.

Aurora was filled with rage and desperation to rescue her friend, but despite her urgency, she took a moment to peer deeply into the Victim with her light sight, finding nothing within it but a void, anathema to light existence. There was no sign left of who or whatever it might once have been in the light.

They’re all irredeemable. Terminate all Victims. Those are your orders, Lodestar Aurora!

Aurora’s body jerked as she whirled her staff and her energy charged up. The Victim jerked, furiously flapping its wings, diving at Aurora.

Perkons gasped in alarm. We have lost our opportunity!

Aurora fought Perkons' control, hesitating for the split second the Victim needed to score a hit on Aurora, causing her and Perkons to spiral downwards. Aurora felt an appreciable drain on her energy as her wind was driven out of her. It chased her downwards without a beat, its maw opened wide in what seemed a malicious glee.

“Reeeeeeeeeee!!!!”

Stop fighting my control, soldier. You’re inexperienced. If you fight me at every step, we’ll be captured and converted. You won’t be able to save your friend if you fall. Retreat and we will reconsider our strategy.

Aurora glared at Perkons as she spun out, falling to the city below. The sun reflected on her immaculate wings and her chest and rear ribbons.

She had an idea, but it wasn’t ideal. There wasn’t any way that she was going to let Perkons direct her every movement. If she was ever going to be worth anything as a Lodestaran, she must stand on her own two feet, or rather… to fly on her own wings. Perkons opened a portal in front of her in the air, taking a considerable chance.

She couldn’t let this happen. A retreat might mean the transformation of her best friend. She wouldn’t consent to a cowardly strategy that forced her to abandon her friend in need. Aurora extended her hands and whirled her staff. Her staff shone in her hands as she fought Perkons’ influence over her. She moved her staff in a slashing motion before passing through the portal and it rang loudly, exploding. As a result, there were waves of light energy rippling in every direction. Space and time rung. The buildings below buckled and cracked as the portal evaporated.

Above, the shockwave struck the Victim and light energy saturated it, smashing into it. It was stunned for a blink. Noticing her opportunity, Aurora smiled and focused all her energy into a single point off its end. She struck with her staff as it neared.

“Light Lance… STRIKE!” She was improvising and she knew it. Her attacks weren’t easily put to use in melee. She could have put up shields to fend off her enemy, but that wasn’t her style. She attacked the tendrils that fastened Nick to the Victim’s back, severing them in a single swipe. 

The Victim shrieked, turning on her as Nick spiraled away, down towards the city. Aurora knew that she had little time, but what made her strategy worthwhile was one important thing: her powers were now overflowing and ready for use!

You fool! You’ve killed your friend with your impertinence, Lodestar Aurora! I hope you can fight with that on your conscience.

“LIGHT WAVE BURST!” Aurora screamed, focusing everything all throughout her staff. Her light energy exploded from the tip, sending a beam upwards, nearly point blank. The Victim extended its weapon, coming within a hair’s breadth of striking her before her beam blew through its torso and turned it into a cloud of dark gore. Much of it drifted away in the air in the form of ashes as the rest rained down on the city.

Aurora’s attack rocketed her down towards the ground, blowing her through a bank of clouds so quickly that the vapor was sent in every direction in a starburst. Light energy rippled through the skies as she was sent rapidly downwards. Turning her head, she caught sight of Nick, his shirt fluttering in the air as he fell. He was bowed over, arms extended, still unconscious. 

Turning, Aurora drew her wings behind her to streamline her frame and minimize wind resistance. With Nick’s uncontrolled and slower descent, Aurora scooped her friend in her arms, throwing her wings outwards. But it wasn’t enough to break her momentum. Coupled with his weight and her jet-like momentum, she was helpless to safely land. They would hit the ground like a meteor.

Fool. Perkons muttered. Crash landing protocol!

Another portal opened in front of them and Aurora rocketed through, coming into contact immediately with what felt like gelatinous light. The substance broke her momentum and she found herself suspended in a strange breathable syrup.

You nearly got your friend killed, soldier.

Aurora held Nick as she ignored Perkons’ admonishment of her actions, examining Nick, worried for him. There was a negligible change in Nick’s body, but he was already fighting off the influence of the Victim’s antilight matter on his body. She sighed in relief.

“Relax, Perky. We’re all alive,” Aurora grinned.

Perkons grumbled, his furry arms crossed around his chest, his face expressing volumes of disapproval.