176 - Divide and Conquer (Patreon)

Lyra could hardly breathe, coughing as dust flooded her lungs.

There was a distinct ringing in her ears, with pain in her knee and elbow. She had initially hit a soft pillow of air, but her subsequent landing on the ground had been hard and prickly. It took her a second to pick herself up, her body aching from the impact. 

When she saw what happened, horror rushed through her, and her jaw dropped.

There was a gorge in the middle of the house.

The wood had splintered, and the gold melted. Sections of the hallway wall had been destroyed, showing the rooms beyond, covered in debris and soot. Scorch marks traced the outline of the destruction, and smoke invaded her nostrils, making her cough even more.

She waved a hand to clear the air, murmuring, “Where on earth did that come from?”

It didn’t seem to have come from above because the ceiling was still intact. The windows were also still shuttered, so it didn’t make sense for it to have come from there either. Did the explosion simply appear from nowhere? Was that possible?

A terrifying thought hit her. If it had in fact come from nowhere, then would there be more?

Also, where was everyone?

She looked around wildly, searching for any of her companions, but the ground, or at least what remained of it, was largely bare.

"Dad?" she called out. "Maus? Professor Valeria? Archmage Lenore?"

A groan had her tearing her gaze to the left, where most of the wreckage lay. A hand was sticking out of a small pile of marble and wood. 

Lyra instantly ran over to them, moving broken planks as the person underneath pushed themselves onto their hands and knees.

Lyra’s breath caught. 

“Maus.” She squatted, laying her hand on his shoulder, trying valiantly to perform the healing spell she had managed to learn. She’d known how to do it when she still had all her cores, but it was difficult with only Vitae. Even after activating her rune, it was slow to come together, the essences seemingly fighting against each other. She didn’t know why she struggled with healing spells, when her vitality spells still worked perfectly for the most part. By definition, healing spells had more Vitae, so they should be easier.

There was probably something wonky about it that she would need Arielle to help figure out.

“I’m okay,” Maus croaked, clearly seeing her struggle. He had his wand in hand, and he looked around. “Where’s everyone?” 

Lyra shook her head. No other bodies lay on the floor as far as her eyes could see, no more limbs under the wreckage of plaster, marble and metal.

The Archmage Lenore was nowhere to be seen, and silence reigned. Had the blast taken some people with it?

Lyra's breath quickened. Were they dead?

Was she dead? Were they all dead?

Lyra took deep breaths, the dust making her feel lightheaded as she shakily approached the gorge.

"Be careful," Maus warned as she got close enough to look down. She steeled herself, girded her stomach, just in case she saw bodies there.

But nothing.

Just a large hole in multiple floors that kept going down.

And then something happened. The air in the hole turned liquid, bubbling like it was starting to boil.  

"Maus," Lyra called out a warning as she heard him come up beside her and look down.

“We need to get out of here,” she whispered, and he nodded. 

“Yeah," he croaked. “I th-think we do.” 

Without further ado, the two turned and ran.

Boom!

Lyra screamed as the air popped and a wave of heat approached them, missing them by a hair's breadth, blasting into the wall ahead of them. 

Her little heels made it hard to run, so she ditched them, kicking them off her feet as she sprinted down the hall, ignoring the splinters that struck her foot.

A roar behind her made the air tremble, and her feet nearly faltered. Fear shook her to the core of her being, and she could feel the panic pushing at the back of her eyeballs, making her want to sob. 

A demon, her mind told her. There’s a demon running after you, and it’s going to capture you and probably suck out all your blood and your bone marrow or maybe even possess you and turn you into a creature of the dark…

Oh God, what if she became a demonkin, and ate people just like they did. She would have to go live to the demonic realm and would never see her family or friends again. 

Maus and Lyra turned the sharp corner, right as something slammed into the wall behind them. The heated touch at her back stung, but she kept it to herself for the most part, only a small whimper escaping.

Maus picked up his speed, the terror leaving his breath in pants. He pulled ahead of Lyra but then seemed to realize and glanced back at her.

He slowed down, grabbed her hand, and dragged her ahead, but her foot stumbled, and she fell.

"Get up," he cried out, but her shaky knees made that difficult.

With the next pop, she knew it was over. 

She could only look back at the fireball approaching her, knowing that she would die like this.

She was going to die in her pretty dress, at a fancy ball, and it was going to be ruined forever. 

Her parents would be heartbroken.

Maus would be traumatized.

And Arielle might never make another friend again.

From the corner of her vision, she saw Maus point his wand and bark, “[Stall]!”

Suddenly, the fireballs glitched, the speed slowing a few secods before they touched her. Lyra felt her hand nearly yank out of the socket, her body being dragged through debris, and the sound of the door slamming even as the scent of smoke and burning flesh remained in her nostrils.

It took her a few seconds to breathe again.

And even more than that to put together what just happened.

She glanced at Maus, who was bracing himself against the door, appearing pale, breathing hard. His sleeve had been burnt, and the skin underneath it was red and mottled. The smell of burning flesh made her sick, and Lyra reached for him, trying with all her might to heal the wound.

The spell came together within exactly six seconds, and the burn did not fully heal, but it began to look better.

“You’re hurt,” Lyra said.

“So are you,” he responded. 

She shook her head. Her injuries were minor compared to his. 

"You saved me," she said. "You delayed that fireball and saved my life. Where did you even learn that spell?"

"Woden," he said. "We were talking about Vacu spells one day and he showed me this one. Said it was a really useful upper apprentice spell but hard to get right."

"But you did it anyway," she said.

He nodded. "I've had a lot of time to practice over the break. Thanks to Arielle, I know how Vacu operates. You have to be firm and confident." He took a shaky breath. "Did you manage to catch a glimpse of the creature?”

“No,” she said. “Did you?”

He shook his head. “It looked like the attacks were coming from nowhere."

“That's what I thought too. And everyone’s gone. You don’t think they’re…”

“No. If they were dead, their bodies would still be there." Maus glanced at the shuttered windows and gestured with his chin. “Maybe we can get out through there” 

“Or maybe we can just stay here until Archmage Lenore finds us.” The room looked largely untouched by the explosions and looked to be some sort of parlor. No dust or debris lay on the furniture, and they couldn't even hear the sounds of explosions anymore.

Maybe the demon had moved on.

“I don’t think we should wait,” Maus said. “We don’t know where the Archmage is, and that thing is eventually going to figure out where we are. We either head back to Edward's room for the portal, or we try to go outside and get help."

“We can't leave. My dad is still here.”

“I know. But they might already be in Edward's room, waiting for the portal.”“But that’s where the waiting area is where the first attack happened. We can’t go back that way. And I doubt we can get through the barricaded windows. They’re probably magic too.”

Maus ‘s face rippled in thought. “Okay. But we should still get help. Maybe there are still some masters downstairs.” 

"Hopefully. We can do that." Lyra tried to sound braver and surer than she was. "But what do we do if we encounter that monster on the way?"

Maus glanced at her. “Do you remember that spell Arielle taught you? The one that almost killed Faulkey.”

“I didn’t almost kill him,” Lyra said, a tad defensively. “But yeah, I remember.”

“If the monster comes after us again, we'll use that to deflect attacks."

“No,” Lyra hissed. “That’s... that’s a very difficult spell, and I don’t get it right all the time, and if I get it wrong, then we'll be dead–”

“Lyra.” Maus' hand covered hers, and he looked into her eyes, his chubby face heavy with the gravity of the situation and his soft features looking suddenly older. “You won’t get it wrong. Okay?”

Lyra’s mouth opened. She felt on the verge of crying, but she held it back. 

“Arielle,” she said shakily. “Do you think–”

“We don’t have time to think about that right now. But I'm sure she's fine with Elric.”

“How are you so calm?” Lyra said, laughing to keep the tears from falling. “I wouldn't have thought you'd be, no offense.”

He smiled. "Only one of us can be a wuss at a time, I guess.”

She chuckled even though it wasn’t really funny. 

Then Maus’ face paled.

 Lyra followed his gaze and realized that the air in front of them was turning liquid again.

Just like how it had looked before the first explosion.  

She and Maus straightened in tandem and were scrambling to get the door open, rushing out into the hallway before the big boom..

Lyra’s chest was a rapid thrum as they ran back the way they came, but then took the opposite direction towards the staircase. They ignored the dents and holes that the fireballs had created, razer focused on escape. Though nothing had jumped out at them yet, the anticipation was killing her. Her lung were getting tighter too. 

Lyra felt faint, like she was going to pass out. 

During the dash, her hand was shaking so hard she could barely hold her wand.

I can’t do this, she kept thinking. I really can’t do this. 

As they reached the staircase, the sizzle was their first warning. 

They didn’t look back, simply dove out of the way, Lyra hitting the banister hard as the flames skimmed the top of their head. 

They got back to their feet, Maus faster than Lyra despite his girth, pulling her ahead. 

Another explosion whizzed past their heads and another. Lyra choked back a sob. It was getting close. Terrifyingly close. 

The next fireball hit Maus’ feet right as he stepped on the last staircase to the lower level, and a hole opened up.

Maus cried out from the burn. He was also going too fast to brake in time, so his leg entered the hole, before his entire body. “Maus!” Lyra yelled as he caught himself, dangling from the edge. 

She didn’t have time to get him up because she felt a cloud of heat approach her back. 

“[Stall]!} Maus yelled as she dove down, her only escape being in the hole that Maus was dangling from. 

She let herself drop through it. 

She didn’t know how far she fell. 

It could have been five or five thousand feet.

All she knew after was that the landing knocked the wind out of her, but she was alive. Everything hurt and she was alive. 

Somehow, Maus was next to her, probably having fallen around the same time she did.

The air above them in the hole bubbled again, seemingly about to spit out another fireball and end their misery once and for all.  

Only for it to cease suddenly. 

It was strange. Like someone had yanked the spell back before it could materialize. Lyra didn’t overthink it, thankful for the reprieve. 

They didn’t move for some time, wondering if they were dead or alive. 

“We ha-h-ave to get up,” Maus whispered. “We have to go.”“Yes,” Lyra agreed. But her body was stubborn to cooperate. 

The sound of the wood creaking from above, injected them with enough adrenaline to come up into a crawl. Inch by inch, they made their way painstakingly across the parlor, the plan to get into one of the rooms so that Lyra could the healing spell again. 

The sound of footsteps interrupted their advance, as well as a familiar voice:

“Lyra?”Relief infused her. She glanced in time to see her father dashing towards her, with Edward, the footman, and two other men behind him. “Father?”“Oh God. We’ve been looking everywhere for you.” He squatted next to her and spread the healing spell on her. “Where did you go?”“I should ask you that. You were gone after the blast.”He frowned. “No, you were gone after the blast.” He reached out and sent a healing spell toward Maus too. It didn’t take care of all their pain, but it did heal enough bruises to give them the strength to rise to their feet again. “I searched for you and then we got chased by a…beast. But then it was gone without warning.”

“We need to go,” Edward says. “In case it comes back.”

“Okay.” Her father picked her up in his arms as he did when she was a little girl and began down the staircase. 

She nearly protested but didn’t have much energy to, and didn’t want to slow down the procession, especially since her father was a lot stronger and faster than she was. 

As he ran down the hall, towards the next set of staircases that would take them to the main wing, Lyra hanging onto his shoulders, she had the perfect vantage point to see something happened behind the running group. 

This time it wasn’t a ripple. 

It was a rip. 

Something came out of nowhere, 

A beast with its head touching the ceiling, humanoid, but with five arms extending out of its body. Its skin was red and wet, looking as though hot paint was slicked all over it.

It had snakes for hair, shifting in the back around it’s head, a pair of sharp saber tooth poking through its lips, beady pupilless eyes gleaming, tongue hissing.

It was charging after them. 

Lyra screamed. 

A few people looked back and screamed too. 

It was singlehandedly the most terrifying moment of Lyra’s life. Especially as the creature began to speak in a slithering tone. 

“This is better,” it said. “Much better. Much stronger.  It’s so fun toying with humans, but my play will come to an end soon.”Lyra's eyes remained on it, even as Edward turned around to cast, “[Kinetic Push].” The spell hit the creature but it didn’t seem to have an impact. 

Neither did the other mans, [Fire Spear].

Her father’s [Paralysis] and [Life Drain] made it groan but it still kept coming. 

Maus’ [Stall] only made its leg twitch a little.

The monster was unstoppable. 

“My turn,” it said, and its mouth opened.

Lyra saw the fire forming and her heartbeat drowned out everything else, as two things echoed in her mind:

I can't do this.

Firm and confident.

It almost felt like something else was in control of her when she lifted her wand. I can't do this. She couldn't remember activating the rune or saying the words, but she had the impression they left her lips anyway. 

Firm and confident.

"[Spore Burst]."

The blast left her wand with enough force to cause a recoil in her already stinging shoulder.

A rush of wind slammed into the windows from the outside, and inside, the explosion of spores from every bit of tiny life forms rocked the earth with enough force to drive the flames back right into the creature’s face. 

It didn’t kill it. 

It didn’t even seem to harm it all that much. 

But it made it blow smoke out of its nostrils, and cough, its face squeezing into a grimace. 

“Not good. You will pay for that.”

With a heavy thud, it leapt into the air, landing with a crash in front of the running crowd, proving that it could have gotten ahead of them at any time. 

Everyone pulled to a stop, gasping in fear. Lyra’s father turned his back on the creature to shield her, and protect her from what was to come. 

Lyra looked at the ugly beast, reaching for them and felt a combination of fear and hatred.

Everything that happened next, happened so fast; it was strange.

One second, Lyra was staring at the beast. 

Next, Archmage Lenore was standing in its place, with the beast's head in her hands, its body at her feet; under it to be more precise. 

Everything stopped in that second, everyone remaining frozen in place. Most had their eyes closed, accepting their doom. 

When it wasn’t coming, they began opening it again, expressions ranging from relief to disbelief at the sight of the archmage. 

One man collapsed on the floor and started to cry. Most people just deflated though, some of their tension and bravery leaving their bodies. 

The Archmage surveyed them with a dispassionate expression, her long braid largely undisturbed. Unlike them, she was not sweaty, nor did she look afraid.

If not for the ample black blood staining her pale pink robes, no one would know anything was amiss with her.

She dropped the head that she had been holding by its snakelike hair. 

“They have an army,” was all she said. 

"What?" Lyra's father said.

"The demons have an army."

Just like that, renewed fear was injected into the atmosphere.

"Where?" Lyra's father asked.

The Archmage's eyes glinted in the airt. "Everywhere."

***

[Hidden Ability Marker: Calculations ongoing...]

The numbers ran in the corner of Ari’s view as they entered through what seemed to be a back door that led into a long hallway.

“Arielle is a very special child,” Elric was saying to Camhanach. “She has skills beyond anything we've ever seen.”

“I know all that,” Camhanach responded. “I saw it with my own two eyes. The girl used accursed Phasewalker techniques, better than some Phasewalkers I know, and other things that I’ve never seen before.. All without a wand or a spell.” He gave Arielle another long stare, which she met with a blank look. 

“Yes,” she said, when it seemed like he was waiting for an answer.

 A smile flashed across his face, but it disappeared as he turned his attention back to Elric. 

"How is a first-year able to do that?" he asked Elric. 

"She is a genius."

"This is beyond genius, Archmage, and you know it."

Elric sighed as they continued to walk briskly, using his magic to throw open the doors and scan for physical and magical presence in the rooms.  

"To be honest with you, I truly don't know how she can do the things she does."

"But you know something," Camhanach said. "Do you not?"

Elric didn't answer for a good while. It seemed it would be difficult to lie to the Lord, because of his perception, so maybe he was avoiding it entirely. 

"Perhaps we should table this conversation for when we get out of this mess,” Elric said. “There are more pertinent details to discuss."

Yes. Like, how come her Hidden Ability calculation was taking so long? The first time she'd used her Orion spell, the calculation had been almost instantaneous. What was the delay here?

"How were we both in the same place and unable to see each other?" Camhanach asked. "We were fighting it from different angles and yet had no clue."

"Probably for the same reason, no one came to assist us," Elric said. "They could not hear our battle."

“Why could they not?”

“My best guess is that the Overlords are not simply changing our reality, they are segmenting it. This must be something new because I’ve never seen it before, but in practice, they are splitting our reality into two or more sections, and preventing them from interacting with  each other, to the point where we cannot even see or touch each other. We’re effectively in different realities while staying in the same place. I’m guessing it's an isolation tactic.”

"Divide and conquer," Camhanach murmured.

“Precisely. The same beast can be replicated in the two realities and fight completely separate battles at the same time. A wound in one reality doesn’t show up in the other, and its strength is not split between the realities, at least I don’t think so. I’m not sure how it manages this. I’m not sure which of the realities are real or if they’re both real but I do believe when the creature is defeated in one reality, it’s defeated in the other, and two realities combine. I’m not sure who's doing it, or who's in charge. Clearly the demons are the anchors between the realities, but someone else is in control and something also gives me the feeling that they’re working up to something. They can’t have gone through all this trouble just to throw one or two beasts at us, one at a time. What we’ve faced so far is only the beginning, likely because they’re trying to figure out the limits of their newly acquired skill. Their real battle is yet to come.”

“Sentinel help us,” Camhanach said but Arielle’s mind was stuck on one detail.

“Reality sectioning,” she said .”That’s not a special ability of the creature we just fought?”Elric shook his head. “I’ve heard of the Wailer, although I've never fought one. It’s known to be a very fierce demon, but there’s no record of it, or any demon, having such a power. If they did, well, we would all be doomed.”“So how are they doing it now?” Camhanach asked. 

“Probably with some help,” Elric responded. “After all, we can’t be the only species demons have sought association with. We’re simply their favorite.”

Yes, and Arielle had a feeling she knew just where that help was coming from. 

Suddenly something occurred to her.

She stopped in her tracks and said, "So something might be happening back at the mansion, and we won't know of it?"

Both Elric and Camhanach stopped to regard Arielle.

“They couldn't hear us when we were fighting," Arielle said. "So maybe we can't hear them either."

Elric could probably already see where Arielle's mind was going, because he said, "Yes, but they have two Archmages and a bunch of masters with them."

"What if they got separated from the Archmage just like me and you did?" Arielle asked.

Elric struggled, his expression shifting. "Okay. Let's round up the staff."

"No. You can do it, and I'll go help the people in the mansion. My friends are there.”

"Arielle..."

"I can handle it, Elric. Believe me."

His jaw clenched so tightly, Ari thought he might be inadvertently removing teeth. He slid his hands into his robe, visibly struggling with the thought of it.

"They can't see you doing what you just did," he gritted out.

"They won't," Arielle said. "I have a good disguise."

Elric released a heavy breath, then nodded. "Okay. I'll get the servants and catch up to you as soon as I can."

“Okay.”

"Be careful," he told her, and she nodded as she took off.