Chapter 94: Attack

Whoosh!

Something shot out of the mist toward Tuck.

It was a single green leaf, spinning faster than the eye could follow. Tuck’s instincts saved him. He threw his body to the left, and the leaf screamed past his ear, close enough to cut a few strands of his hair.

Thud!

Beside him, a wide tree trunk was half pierced through, its bark splintering around a neat, round hole.

’Missed,’ I thought from behind the dead tree. ’Thank god.’

"Ambush!" Tuck roared.

Frost burst out of his palms, crawling over his knuckles and hardening into thick gauntlets of white ice. He dropped into a crouch and stared into the fog with wild eyes.

Riya moved next. She pressed her palm to the mud, and her shadow spread outward like spilled ink, swallowing the ground in a fifty feet wide wide. Every footstep, every breath inside it would reach her senses.

Ronald did not bother with words. He grabbed the wooden hand of the brown puppet that always hung at his side, and silver lightning sparked between their palms with a crackle.

For a moment, Ronald’s body went rigid. Then it faded into thin air, as though it had never existed.

The puppet’s empty eyes lit up with a cold green glow.

’Consciousness transfer,’ I noted.

Frank, the oldest of them, reached into his pocket with a calm that surprised me and pulled out a rolled scroll.

Right at that moment sunlight burst across the whole area, so bright and so sudden that it felt as though a sun had risen in the swamp. The fog vanished. Riya’s shadow trembled and broke apart, her sensing domain collapsing in an instant. Everyone’s eyes went white.

’Perfect.’

When the glow faded and their sight returned, six figures stood before them in a line.

We wore masks made from torn strips of cloth, ragged and frightening, with only our eyes showing. Lee stood at the end, tall and silent. Mary kept her hands folded neatly. Sera had folded her arms and looked like a judge about to pass a sentence.

Ronald trembled in his wooden shell. He raised the puppet’s palm to aim at us, a ray of light gathering in the center.

Then it stopped...

His arm hung in the air. The light fizzled out.

Ronald stared at his own wooden hand, confused. He did not remember what he had been about to do. He did not even remember why he was inside the puppet.

A faint warmth left my eyes. ’Sorry, Ronald. Just a few seconds.’

Riya turned toward him, frowning. So did Tuck. So did the others.

"Thou really art weird ones," I said, deepening my voice.

Riya’s face drained of color. Sweat rolled down her cheek as she bowed so deeply that her hair touched the mud.

"Please, leave us alone! We work for Culex, but we will not say a word. Please, I beg for your mercy."

’Damn. Am I really that scary? Also, her accent sounds like Valemont. Is Culex only hiring people from there?’

I almost chuckled, but I swallowed it.

"How dare thou betray the kingdom?" I said, stepping forward. "Hast thou no fear? How wilt thou answer the Gods? Art thou a blasphemer?"

Her head snapped up.

"No! Absolutely not!" Her eyes suddenly brightened. "Wait. Are you from the kingdom?"

"Indeed," I said coldly. "But why should we spare thee? Thou hast broken the laws of men and Gods, and served those who bow to the devil."

Her face fell.

I did not enjoy it. Not even a little. Her expression made something in my chest ache, because I was a human being and not a monster. But what had to be done had to be done. It was, afterall for a better reason.

’It is just a performance,’ I told myself. ’Nobody here dies today.’

"We had no choice, please believe us!" Ronald cried, his voice coming out of the puppet’s wooden mouth, it was flat and metallic, like the voice of an AI I used to hear back on Earth. "If we refused, he would have killed us!"

"And thou!" I pointed at him. "Thou didst raise thy hand against a servant of the kingdom. I have reason enough to send thee straight to the place where the master thou servest sleeps!"

"I am sorry! I am sorry!" His voice cracked.

"Thou shalt be punished!" I thundered. "Along with every man who sides with the demon Culex! We, the hundred of us, shall fight for the good cause. And thou shalt be the first example!"

Behind me, Sera was biting the inside of her cheek so hard that her shoulders shook. Arthur had turned away. Meanwhile Theodore stared at the sky.

"Please!" Frank shouted, gripping the scroll. "Have mercy!"

We did not listen... Lee stepped forward.

He pulled back his sleeve, and white scales spread across his arm and fist. They were bright and hard as polished stone.

A roar tore out of his throat, deep and ancient.

Roar!

A violent gust of wind exploded outward. Tuck, Riya, Frank and Ronald were lifted off their feet and thrown through the air like leaves.

Midway through the fall, Frank twisted his body and slapped the scroll against his chest.

"Water!"

Splash!

A dragon made of rushing water burst from the parchment, snapping its jaws as it shot toward Lee’s stomach.

Lee did not move. He only opened his mouth.

Whoosh!

A wave of flames roared out, and the water dragon turned to nothing but a cloud of steam before it could even scream.

’Water, against Lee?!’ I chuckled.

"Hahaha!" Arthur laughed, then clamped both hands over his mouth.

Theodore sighed before clapping his palms together.

"Blood Ray."

A thin line of crimson shot from between his hands, clean and straight, and traveled across the land faster than an arrow. It struck the wooden puppet in the chest and passed straight through.

Crack!

The green light in its eyes flickered wildly.

"Gwak!" Ronald choked. His voice was shaking as though he was about to give up the ghost.

Riya scrambled to her feet. Her face was pale, but she was not finished. She slammed both palms into the ground, and shadows began to rise around her, taking shape, thickening, ready to form a beast.

I narrowed my eyes.

’Hehehe, it shall be... mine!’

The shadows around her shuddered.

Beast made up of shadows formed in front of me before running towards Riya.

"No!" she screamed.

The beast sprinted after her, its claws tearing through the mud. Riya threw every ounce of strength into her legs and ran, her face white as paper, her cloak flapping behind her.

I let the beast chase her for a few seconds before it dissipated into nothingness.

"Tell thee master," I called, my voice echoing across the area, "That the Twilight Order hath come unto this land in their hundreds. And that we are but newly begun!"

None of them answered. They were too busy running.

Sera finally exploded into laughter beside me.