He scrambled towards the opposite corner, struggling to pull his pack off his shoulder while opening his grimoire. Panic made his eyes bright and his voice hoarse. "Fuck."
"Quiet!" she hissed.
"What is it?" he whispered back.
"Lights," she said, voice low. "Thought they were stars for a second. But stars don't move like that. Headed this way."
"Great." He looked up at the sky as though pleading with fate to intervene. "I'm loving this."
"Tell you something you'll love even more."
"I'm not sure I want to ask."
"That bastard back there? He was right. There's lots of the motherfuckers. Dozens. Hundreds, maybe. Too many to fight at any rate." She grinned, sweat squeezing painfully through the pores under her arms. Like moist pins. "We're fucked."
"How big are they?"
"I can't tell. Best guess? Not big. Maybe as big as my fist. But I don't figure they're gonna just sparkle at us." She tensed against the cold stone wall, hearing the air buzz as the swarm drifted closer. "It's well after twilight, so I reckon there's more bite to them than that."
"I gotta see," he said, inching toward a large crack in the wall.
"Careful. Reckon if they see us, we're dead a whole lot quicker."
He squeezed his face against the gap and peered out. Sucked a deep breath then let it out with a long sigh. "Gravewisps."
"That good or bad?"
"Depends."
"On?"
"How many of them there are. Not unusual to get a couple hanging around old tombs or barrows. A place like this, though, must be like a magnet to them. Usually, they're not too hard to kill. Just hit them with something hard. Me, I'd use a club. You, you could use your head." He licked his lips and started sifting through the pages of his grimoire. "But that many of them? You're right. They'd kill us before we took five steps."
She scrubbed at her palm and eyed the warlock with curiosity.
He didn't sound too scare dnow. If anything, he sounded excited. His expression was impish in the jagged beams of moonlight slashing across his face. He looked up at her and his smile revealed his gleaming white teeth.
"Hey, Nysta? Do you think you can do something to stop them attacking me while I'm casting? Doesn't have to be much. Just run around making a lot of noise. They'll like that."
The elf gave him a withering look which he endured calmly. "And let them get me, so you can get free?"
"Sounds like a great idea," he allowed. "But I had something else in mind. It's probably the easiest summoning I've ever cast, so half a minute is all I need."
"Thirty seconds?"
"Yeah. You can do it. Gravewisps aren't very fast anyway."
She lifted herself slowly to her knees. Stared over the top of the crumbling wall.
The sea of bright lights circled the ruins like a school of fish.
They moved slowly, like he said. Still. She didn't think it was going to be as easy as that.
"Fuck," she said, knowing she didn't have much choice.
"Thanks," he said airily. "Make sure you stay out of their reach. I need to make a light so I can read. But, Nysta? Trust me. You're gonna love it. Truth is, I've been looking for a chance to use it ever since I fucking read it. It's not something you can unleash in a town, though. Or a city. Or anywhere near anything. It's not particularly powerful, but it is risky. Too much can go wrong with it. I never saw a use for them before. So, an opportunity like this? Once in a fucking lifetime, I reckon. Be ready."
"For?"
His grin grew so wide she thought it might crack his skull open. "Fucked if I know. Just be ready."
"Thirty seconds?"
"Thirty seconds."
"Not a second more, Chukshene."
Then, without waiting for him to protest, she leapt the wall and darted to her left, far away from the swarm of gravewisps. The school dragged itself to a halt as though surprised by her presence.
A few splinters of light nudged loosely in her direction but didn't quite separate from the group. For a moment, it looked like they hesitated to chase her. As though they suspected something more tasty was hiding in the ruin.
"Over here, you fucking motherfuckers!" She yelled loudly, flapping her arms foolishly as she ran.
That was enough for the swarm's buzz to rise to a hollow scream, and they darted after her like a spear of glittering light.
"Ah, fuck," she growled, spinning away.
They were quicker than Chukshene had told her they'd be. She'd cut his balls off later, she promised. She could feel the heat of their lights radiating against her back as she dodged into the ruins of another hut.
Scrambling over the rubble, she dove out the other side.
Rolled.
Caught her foot. Tugged herself loose and leapt over a broken wall.
Glanced over her shoulder as the swarm enveloped the ruined hut like a glittering wave. They swirled inside, then tore after her, buzzing angrily at her heels.
There were more of them than she could count. The sight made her heart skip.
"Hurry the fuck up, Chukshene!" Sprinting as fast as she could, she led the gravewisps in a wide arc around the ruin. "Fifteen fucking seconds left!"
The river of furious swarm of wisps followed like mice to a piper. But mice more interested in meat than music.
A single wisp, faster than the others, streaked out of nowhere.
It spat sparks at her, a few of which snapped into her arm. The shock felt like glass slitting through her flesh.
Yelping in shock, she stumbled. Caught herself. And kept running.
"Ten," she rasped.
The wisp swooped again, spitting more sparks. She ducked hard as Controversial to the End left her numb fingers like a steel hawk.
The blade soared through air and missed the wisp completely.
Hit a stone wall with a clang and clattered across the ground with a shameful glint. A few wisps, drawn to the movement, shot a shower of sparks at the blade which warped like a writhing steel snake as the electric heat turned it to slag.
"Fucking useless piece of shit," she growled and ducked again as a spray of sparks rained around her shoulders. "Five seconds, Chukshene!"
She sprinted toward the nearest wall.
Kicked off it to veer sharply to her right, aiming for the hut in which the warlock crouched over his grimoire.
She could see his face, tainted by the eerie yellow glow. It was glistening with sweat. Whatever he was casting, she thought grimly, had better be big.
Real fucking big.
Hot on her trail, the wave of screaming wisps smashed hard into the wall and seemed to take a moment to recover as a collective before lunging at the fleeing elf. The heat and light bathed the ruins as they grew brighter with each passing second. As though rage was fueling their glow.
Her face was a manic grin of terror and giddy joy as she bore down on the hut.
Legs like rubber, she pushed herself faster and faster to keep out of reach of the sparks. The glowing swarm hissed, spreading wide behind her as they started to encircle her and the hut she was heading for.
The warlock's face snapped up.
He wanted to shout at her. Demand she keep away. He wasn't ready.
But he dared not stop casting.
Not then.
Not with the glow of magic swirling around him. If he stopped, it would consume him.
But he couldn't tell her that.
Horrified, he watched her leap through the window to roll into the hut.
Skid to a panting halt in front of him.
Spread a malicious grin across her face and announce; "One second!"
The swarm reared high above the hut, preparing to crash down and smother them in a surging wave of light.
And, with terror clenching his heart firmly in his throat, he screamed the last word of power.
Wondered if it worked.
He couldn't feel anything other than the surge of emptiness as his magic drained away.
Had it worked?
Of course it had.
Maybe.
Still, nothing had happened.
He lifted his head towards the glowing lights. They burned so bright he had to squeeze his eyes to slits.
The spell hadn't worked.
He was going to die.
"I-"
His words were cut off by the crack of thunder directly overhead. Thunder which split the sky apart. A crack, bleeding eerie violet light, opened like a crooked grin.
A ball of fire, hurled from the hole in the sky, tore toward the earth with a violent scream of its own. The power of its arrival made the wisps scatter.
When the meteor hit the ground, the explosion lit the air with fire and made the ground heave.
Nysta shouted, her words lost to the wall of thunder, as she pushed him down.
The shockwave ripped past, flinging grit and splinters of stone that hissed like knives. A stone, the size of a fist, punched through the air where his head had been.
Around the ruins, the night had gone.
Fires burned bright as old wood was consumed by the inferno's wild bloom.
Wwisps, caught in the fiery blast, burned white hot for an instant before collapsing wetly to the ground like dying stars.
The remaining wisps, still countless in number, trembled in the air, unsure what to do.
Then, they came.
Little shadows in the cloud of dust formed by the impact.
"What the fuck are they?" the elf squinted, trying to make them out. Her throat was dry. "Chukshene? What did you summon?"
The warlock struggled to sit up.
Adjusted his robes and pounded his grimoire with a thoroughly ecstatic fist.
He couldn't resist the urge to giggle. "Gremlins!"
Small, nasty, and with needle teeth, they bounded from the ground and hooted hungrily as they caught sight of the incoming swarm.
Delighted by the sight of the gravewisps, the little demons rushed forward to greet them, swiping at the lights with shrieks of demented pleasure. They leapt into the air like monkeys, snatching them in their clawed hands.
They squeezed the sparking creatures, excited by their struggle.
Then stuffed the glowing wisps between chomping jaws and gnashing teeth.
Bright green juice exploded over their lips even as sparks ignited within their cheeks.
At first, they seemed happy to chew on the wisps. But quickly started clawing at their faces as the glowing green blood ate into their mouths like acid.
Their bellies swelled. Skin melted. Then cracked open with ugly bursts which left their guts smoking on the ground, bubbling with the glowing blood of dead wisps.
The elf winced as she caught sight of one gremlin hopping around trying to hold his dissolving jaw closed. It was screaming, eyes wide. Belly glowing as the bright lights within flared.
Dancing in an orgy of pain and self-destruction, the gremlins kept trying to eat every glowing wisp before the acid completely ate through their heads. Even as they fell and lay squirming on the ground, they snatched at the air, drunk on violence and the demented drive to eat more of the glowing swarm.
The flurry of movement, howls, and screams worked to keep the swarm of lights whirling around the crazed gremlins and the elf dragged the sniggering warlock to his feet.
Shoved him over the closest wall and toward the field, aiming to get as far from the ruins as possible.
Heading south.
"Great spell. I love those guys. I thought they'd last longer, though," the warlock sighed happily, stumbling along beside her. "I didn't expect wisp blood to do that to them, though."
"Reckon you should've known better," the elf said evenly.
"How could I?" He gave her an offended look. "I've never summoned them before."
"Gremlins, Chukshene," she drawled. "Bright lights ain't good for them."