"Hey man, I think you got a little something on your-." I said, tapping my forehead at Korbin. Wordlessly, his horned, fiery figure lunged forward at me, closing a 10 meter distance in mere seconds. The heat from his expanded infernal energies surrounding him wafted against my face as I dropped one leg and weaved under his first punch.
Korbin's momentum planted and reversed towards me immediately, feigning a follow up jabbing punch and throwing a fiery kick toward my ribs. My brain buzzed with focus leaping and flipping sideways over the kick. Bouncing his kicking foot off the ground, Korbin's fiery heel skimmed my cheek as I leaned away from his boot. Ripple Stride pulled me away from Korbin horizontally, feeling myself beginning to lose my balance. Without hesitation, Korbin aggressively pursued my reset with a leaping switch-kick trained for my skull. I easily weaved back out of the way, raising my hand up for a counter punch when I noticed Korbin's Flow had halted on a dime with his foot straight in the air.
*SMACK*
My hand accidentally clapped off Korbin's descending axe kick as I shuffled out of its path, stepping toward Korbin's back and landing a punch to his fire-engulfed face. Korbin tucked his chin at the last second, slamming my fist into one of his cracked stone horns and crumbling it altogether. Korbin's head recoiled an inch before retaliating with a stiff kick to my calf. Cursing myself for not being ready for his counter, my feet shuffled diagonally while switching lead legs. Korbin threw a punch I easily slipped, then feigned a leg kick looping his boot around and swinging towards my skull in a question mark shape. Having learned this technique from him, I preemptively stepped and leaned away while throwing a side kick of my own at his jaw. Korbin's open hand slammed against my shin before both smashed his cheek, maintaining both a wild glare and his grip on my leg.
Oh SHIT!
Korbin's weight sank down, slamming his elbow into my leg before yanking me straight toward him and sliding an open hand against my ankle. Phantom pains lit across my leg from him locking me in ankle locks for weeks during our introduction to grappling pre-integration. Smashing my free leg against his chest, I just managed to twist my foot free from his burning grip before it fully locked as I leapt off of Korbin. Even as I flipped away, every fiber of my being screamed danger. It wasn't until I finished my backflip did I see the torrent of fire Korbin unleashed from his palm at me.
The nerve-numbing flames nearly consumed my entire face as I let my legs fall limp on my landing, rolling backwards just out of the fires range. I may have abandoned the fight altogether to rub my terribly itching back against a tree, if it wasn't for the twister of thoughts and emotions raging through my mind.
"…friend?"
"Friends are loyal."
"Loyal to the colony."
The bright foliage and towering trees flickered from view, becoming the dark sands of Elysium consumed in flames and agony.
"Come on, Thomas?! I KNOW we taught you better than this." Korbin sneered, my eyes remaining locked on his fiery figure as he sprinted to close the distance. My feet shuffled as I weaved around his swiping fists, only to raise my leg a hair too late and suffer a brutal calf kick. The impact twisted my legs, allowing him to land a brutal knee to my chest followed by a slashing elbow as he shoved off of me.
"Loyalty is warm."
"Warm is not pain."
"This is not warmth."
My eyes squeezed shut, shaking my head trying to kill the voices as I fixed myself back to my feet. My eyes fluttered open, refocusing only after my head weaved around Korbin's fiery fist. The stench of sour iron wafted from under my own cowl, lightning gathering around my fist throwing a wild Lightning Strike. Korbin didn't have to move far to weave around my fist, raising his back leg and smashing his heel into my nose. The world spun endlessly as I felt myself roll back to my feet, stumbling shakily to stay upright.
"This is disappointing, how fucking weak did those loops make you?! Fight, dammit!" Korbin barked, his voice barely audible through the countless whispers twisting through my thoughts.
"He's no friend."
"Liar."
"Deceiver."
"We must protect our warmth."
"The colony is warm."
"The colony is here."
…no, no not now, guys.
Gritting my teeth and biting through some inner cheek skin, it took every ounce of focus I had to read Korbin's flow, ducking and shuffling away from his 6-strike combination of punches and kicks. My shoulders twisted around his final kick, only for his leg to bend in at the last second smashing into my nose. The world plunged into total darkness for a second, leaving me no recollection of when my back hit the ground as my wits returned. I rolled up to my feet hurriedly, only to find Cassi and Korbin trading blows several meters away. Korbin's entire body left fiery trails with every motion, his strikes creating clouds of steam as they clashed with Cassi's watery orbs that washed around her body and limbs. Seeing an opportunity at a two on one, I sprinted ahead to join the fight.
Korbin's hand locked around Cassi's wrist, twisting and tossing her over his shoulder. Her metallic armored body loudly bounced off the foliage as I closed the distance, pumping the breaks and leaning my head away from Korbin's whipping spin-kick. Shuffling closer, my fists smashed into his ribs and chin with consecutive Flow Strikes causing the orange fire that engulfed his every feature to flicker in sync. Korbin's flow lit up across his back as he spun with the punch, instinctively causing me to duck down. His fist whooshed over my cowl as he finished his spinning counter attack, throwing a knee toward my leaned head. Leaping straight up to evade the attack, my hips twisted hard landing my own knee against the place his ear should be behind the fire.
*THUNK*
Korbin reeled back, twisting around and dizzily slapping away Cassi's open hand snatching out at his wrist. His fist smashed into her jaw the moment her own hooking punch made purchase with the side of his skull, causing them both to stumble away from each other. Water mana shot from my few Ripple Striding to close the distance, feigning a jabbing punch and smashing my back shin into Korbin's ribcage. His arm clamped down yet again, only finding air as I kicked off his body with a Flow Inverse, spinning with the momentum and blasting my heel under his flaming chestplate that pushed him back several steps. My feet shuffled across Korbin's centerline, landing a passing hook to his jaw before feeling a tight pressure clamp around my wrist.
*CRACK*
Korbin's free fist flew under my own extended arm, blasting an uppercut to my jaw that lifted me off my feet. The excruciating burning from his fiery hand clamped onto my own now felt totally numb compared to the terrible aching that buzzed through my skull as I slipped under a head kick. A wave of anxiety rushed through my chest seeing Korbin's leg freeze high above my head mid swing, aiming an axe-kick for the back of my skull. Instantly enraged at the very notion, my feet dug into the soil before kicking myself back, tossing the dirt from my boot into Korbin's fiery face. His hands jolted up to his eyes while dropping his foot lazily to the ground, giving me the window I needed as lightning spiraled across my arm. Twisting and shuffling to his back side, a blue and orange burst of mana erupted from my fist bashing into his rising forearm.
*CRACK*
The flames flickered out across Korbin's forearm for a few brief moments, revealing its unnatural bend at the center actively bowing downward in his guard. His eyes narrowed as I made note, flashing a wild eyed smile before throwing a punch with his clearly broken arm. My head slipped to the side of his swing, while slapping my pan against his burning wrist to deflect the punch as well. I felt the pop of his forearm fully snapping under the impact, as a stone spiked knuckle grip fell loosely from his open palm flopping to the side. Justification flooded my senses while slapping a kick straight into Korbin's calf, following it with a stiff two-piece Flow Strike combo to his nose and chin. Korbin's head whipped back, snagging my swinging hand and landing his own side kick to my ribcage as he fell back.
Gritting through the sharp pain, my feet shuffled forward to close in on Korbin, his fiery figure breathing incredibly heavily showing physical signs of exhaustion creeping in.
"Kill the deceiver."
"Quickly!"
"It threatens the warmth."
Biting another hole in my cheek fighting off the urge to lunge forward and reclaim my calm, Korbin's flickering fists hissed by my face as I leaned and parried away his attacks. Recognizing the sudden burst of power in his rear leg, I shuffled to his opposite shoulder completely avoiding his leaping switch-kick. Korbin tried to tuck his knee into my skull, my hand pressing off the fire-engulfed leg and using that Flow to smash a hooking punch into his jaw. Bouncing my knee up, Korbin's counter kick cracked against my knee before I stopped and landed another punch to his jaw. Korbin finally stumbled back, his hands up to his face as I saw a golden opportunity in the gap in his guard. Lightning mana engulfed my back as I let Lightning Strike charge for a full second before lunging toward Korbin. My eyes locked onto his temple, energy finally dispersed across my body when it whipped into view.
*THUNK*
Korbin's head practically disappeared behind a splash of water and blood, trailing behind Cassi's bo staff before my Lightning Strike smashed into the wood. My momentum tangled my legs on Korbin, causing me to fall and roll forward across the foliage. Twisting around, the world became consumed in bright blue energy as Cassi stood spiraling her bloody staff, removing her final squelching blow from Korbin's motionless body. My eyes locked onto Korbin's mangled mess of a skull on the floor, my hands shaking with a mixture of both pain and unbridled rage. Flashes of countless times seeing his copes lay mangled on the dark sand replayed through my mind in vivid detail. Cassi spoke up, her words sounding like she was speaking underwater, hollow and barely audible.
"Whew, that was a LOT of mana." She said, shutting her eyes with a beaming smile while taking a deep breath.
"You…you took that from me." I growled, summoning my mana potion and chugging it down hoping to kill off some of the pain eating away in my belly. It only filled a hollow portion as Cassi chuckled, pointing her staff's end at me.
"Like you wouldn't have done the same exact shit. What, did you think I'd just let you get all your resources back for free?" Cassi countered, sliding her staff in her palms and entering her fighter's stance. The burning orange embers that covered the ground surrounding Korbin faded away as his corpse vanished. Instead, the soil surrounding Cassi seemed to make itself extremely moist, squelching loudly under her casual strafing steps.
"Taken."
"Our warmth was earned."
"-was OURS!"
"She stole it."
"Thief."
"Shut up!" I shouted, shaking my head trying to force their whispering voices into silence. My back suddenly flared into a violent itch, clawing across my cloth robe trying to dig my nails deep into my skin. It took several seconds to alleviate it, before remembering where I was in the first place locating Cassi. She simply stood there with her staff in hand, scanning me thoroughly wearing a curious gaze.
"…you about done there, Tommy? Feelin' a little feral again, I see." She teased, raising a brow while I mentally regained my composure.
"Yet you're the only one of us who broke the no weapon rule. Go ahead and put that down so we can do this properly." I replied, shaking my arms and legs out to loosen up.
"Hells no, I'm not as stupidly prideful as you two." Cass replied, shaking her head then summoning that watery wave under her feet and gliding at me across the forest foliage. A little surprised at her urgency, Ripple Stride enhanced my retreat, giving me enough time to read and slide under Cassi's swiping bo staff that whooshed overhead. I felt my grips fill my palms as Cassi curved her wave back around for a second pass, deflecting another pair of strikes and throwing a counter slash of my own. Unfortunately, she moved too quickly for me to reach before gliding out of range. Slapping my blades together, the jagged Lightning Bolt barely whizzed past Cassi as she leapt from the wave twisting her staff overhead.
My weight shifted hard as I leapt out of range of Cassi's slamming staff, creating a small crater in the dirt where her watery blobs both stacked on one another on impact. Dashing back in, Cassi's staff barely managed to slap away my lunging blade and snagged my robes color with free hand. My eyes shot open wide feeling the amount of flow she utilized dropping down and throwing me over her shoulder. Bouncing off the wet soil, my foot kicked off the ground landing a stiff knee to Cassi's skull as she landed on top of me, giving a gap to roll out of to avoid the ground fight. I pushed my hands off the ground, only to feel the hard bottom of Cassi's boot smack one arm out from me before wrapping her leg around it. Feeling panic creeping in, as well as the familiar sour iron stench filling my pallet, a surge of lightning mana shot through my entire body just as she snatched my wrist.
Cassi convulsed for a few seconds before managing to release my hand, allowing me to finally push myself up to my feet. Cassi popped back up as well, immediately creating another wave and beelining at me wearing a much more serious expression. The metal ping of my blades fired another bolt of lightning, Cassi managing to curve her path prematurely one way then leaping off the wave the other throwing off my aim. This time prepared for her leaping entrance, I took a shuffling step back and let her land into a roll. Cassi popped up into an attack, one that I parried and followed with a stiff side kick to her stomach. The impact pushed her back, causing her to twist back as I shuffled forward to apply pressure. It wasn't until both of her feet raised up in the air did I notice the end of her staff buried into the soil behind her.
*POP*
My head snapped forward from the crushing impact of Cassi's full weight kicking me right in the chest, sending me tumbling back across the foliage and through some thick shrub. My entire chest screamed a sharp pain as I forced myself to my feet, back feeling as if a million tiny claws were constantly piercing across my back. As my eyes locked with Cassi's however, the pain rapidly dwindled until it was completely numb.
"…cold."
"I imagine this feels familiar to you doesn't it? Tell me, did any of my punches hurt half this badly with those rats biting at your ankles?" Cassi sneered, summoning a wave and gliding straight over the foliage. The mention of the rats caused several silvery flashes and blood curdling screams to fill my mind as I shook my head of the memories. My eyes fluttered open finding myself already rolling across the forest floor, ducking under Cassi's swiping staff.
"Careful, little rat." Cassi exclaimed before twisting around making another pass by, her face flashing between her own and the mangled, bloody mess she wore on day 386 when I…
"I'm getting warmer!" Cassi exclaimed, snapping me from the memory, my blades not rising in time to fully block the strength of Cassi's bo staff. All three weapons bashed into my face and chest, knocking me back on my ass and she glided by. Before I could assess the damage done however, a thousand whispers mumbled all around me as the sun itself began to darken in the sky. It took a few moments before I could make out what they were saying. Or rather what she was saying.
…warmer?
"Yes, she will take it."
"Leave us cold."
"Kill us."
The rats warned, as the smell of ash filled my pallet. Cassi's half eaten face filled my vision causing me to drop down, the face bending back and morphing into her staff as Myzurs forest became a dark blur around us.
*clank*
A metallic shift triggered a screaming sense of danger as I turned around slashing my blades behind one another. Cassi's staff halted against my first strike, folding back under the second one's weight and spinning over her wrist. Her stick twisted back at me, but not before I leapt forward smashing my skull against her nose.
*CRACK*
"Good."
Cassi stumbled back, lightning rippling around my shoulders aiming to land a kill strike.
"She threatens us."
"Just let go."
Suddenly my entire back felt like it was just doused in burning oil causing me to arch backwards for a few moments before subsiding.
"We're together."
"One colony."
The voices persisted, as the terrible burning was quickly replaced by an unbelievably sharpened focus that caused my mind to buzz like a stirred beehive was in my skull. My head dropped down before I could register the movement at the corner of my eye, shifting and sliding away from Cassi's swiping staff. My blade lurched up seeing a gap in the side of her armor under the armpit, my eyes shot wide open feeling her hand snatch my wrist before my stab could land.
Spinning hard, my heel slammed into the side of Cassi's knee and kicked off, ripping my hand free and landing on all fours. Cassi crumbled forward, looking down at her knee then up at me with a contorted expression. Four sharp little feet danced up my shoulder, whispering into my ear as I scanned Cassi's every movement.
"Let us help you, Tom."