《A Sorceress On Earth》The Great Tar Pit Disaster

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Dara stared at the creature as it charged them. How did it rise up like that? Dara had felt spirits before, but this wasn’t anything like—

“Kid, move!” Millie shoved Dara out of the way, the ground shaking as the animated mass of tar and debris rushed by them, hitting a little closed kiosk with the sound of shredding metal and shattering glass. Glass and metal flew around, while other parts were drawn into the growing mass of the creature. Dara winced as she hit the ground, the impact sending a shock of pain through her shoulder. But then she rolled to her feet and held up the staff, sending her power through the foci.

I don’t have anything prepared but… She snapped the staff down and the fragments around her rose up into the air. She gestured, and they flew through the air with bone-breaking force… only to strike the animated form and adhere to it, as it drew the fragments of concrete and metal into its body.

“I thought you were fighting it, not feeding it!”

“I’m trying!” Dara snarled. “It’s different from anything I’ve seen!” She gestured and hardened the air around the creature. For a moment it remained still, then flexed, and the spell was shattered.

Dara gasped and went down on one knee. She looked up at it, and her eyes went wide. “Oh, no.”

“What?”

“It feels like a golem.”

Millie didn’t say anything as she chucked a rock at the golem. It turned and stared at her before it roared and charged. Millie dodged behind a tree and then squawked as the golem ripped the tree out of the ground with effortless ease.

Dara got up and then focused on another spell. Let’s see how you like fire… the elemental spell sent a jet of yellow flames to play over the golem’s body. It roared, turning away from Millie, to advance on Dara.

Her spell ended, the fire winking out, and revealing the golem more or less untouched. Smoke was rising from it and some of the concrete in its body had been scorched, but it was still moving.

“Great,” Millie said. “TV lied to me. Tar was supposed to explode when you did your thing. C’mon!” she said, grabbing Dara and dragging her down the pathway. Behind them, the golem roared again, following them. Every step made a loud thudding sound, sometimes combined with the sound of something breaking.

“What’s the big deal with it being a golem?”

“It’s not a golem, I mean, not—“

“Kid, just what I need to know!”

“Right!” Dara said as they moved around a curve in the path.

Millie squawked and put on some speed as the golem just charged through the ornamental plants instead of following the path.

“Spirits can possess things, but they’re easy to drive out. A properly prepared vessel, something designed for a spirit, is a lot tougher. That’s what this feels like.”

“How do we kill it?”

“I—I don’t know!” Dara said. “I mean, I could try to drive it out, but that’s an hour’s work and I don’t think it’d exactly sit still.”

“Yeah, probably not, but we need to do something. Believe me, this noise isn’t staying inside the park and the cops are going to show up any minute now, and I don’t think someone’s service piece is going to help if they piss this thing off.” Millie glanced back at the monster. “And believe me, if a cop gets hurt or killed, they will not stop looking for everyone involved in it.”

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Dara turned and sent a blast of wind, strong enough that the leaves were torn from the trees at the golem. It just roared and kept coming.

“I never learned how to fight a golem!” Dara said. “It didn’t exactly come up in college!”

“Why not?”

“Because the professors weren’t trying to kill us?”

“Yeah, well, they should probably up their game. How is that thing even seeing us?”

“Those glowing eyes. It’s formed them so it can see the material world like we do.”

“Pull the fog down!” Millie shouted. “Now!”

Dara nodded, and soon they were surrounded by the thick fog.

“It can hear as well,” Dara whispered.

“What about magic? It got pissed off by your spell.”

“It can’t see me unless I’m actively casting.” Dara glanced around. “The ritual provoked it.”

“Why?”

“I don’t—“ There was a crashing sound, but heading in the other direction.

“Not good,” Millie hissed. “We’ve got to keep it around here. Any chance it’ll just die if we leave it alone?”

Dara shook her head. “No. It’s a golem, not some animated object. The power within it is self-sustaining.”

“Well, crap. Fine, you figure out how to kill it, while I keep it from running into that crowd out there.”

“How are you—“

“Lift the fog, Kid!” Millie shouted.

What is she—Dara lifted the fog and then stared as Millie ran, grabbing a chunk of rock and threw it at the golem. The golem had been marching in the other direction, but when the rock hit it, it paused, turned and then roared, heading for Millie. Millie cursed, and then threw another rock at it.

“Yeah, follow me, you walking piece of modern art!”

What do I do, what do I do… Dara didn’t have enough time to make a ritual working, and that wouldn't do much to a golem in any case. She didn’t have enough power to destroy it directly… She called the wind, and sent another lance of fire at the golem, but it wasn’t fazed by them, breaking off its pursuit of Millie to turn and stare at Dara for a moment.

At least it’s stupid…

“What are you doing?” Millie called.

“I can’t kill it!” Dara shouted. “It’s too strong for anything I have ready. The only way to kill it is to wreck the shell it’s formed around itself.”

“Shell, eh—Kid, dodge!”

Dara shrieked as the golem threw something at her, a mass of stone and tar, welded together into a massive and deadly projectile. She managed to dodge it as it vanished into the darkness.

And moments later there was an odd howling sound that soon faded away.

“Crap. Car Alarm. I hope whoever owns that car has monster insurance.” Millie danced around the golem as it turned from Dara to Millie, evidently confused by the attack.

Good. It’s dumb. Either that it’s having perception problems. Not all spirits actually saw the world like physical beings did, and Millie wasn’t a mage. It might have a hard time seeing her, or even seeing Dara when she wasn’t actively casting.

“Which is fine, but we can’t kill it!” Dara snarled, then squeaked as the golem threw part of a park bench at her.

Okay, it can hear.

“Dara!” Millie shouted. “That white can in its chest. Can you break it and then set it on fire?”

“What?” Dara called back, dodging through some of the park growth, the sound of shattering trees loud in her ears. “Why?”

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“The food stand! It’s a propane tank from the food stand! We can make it explode!”

Wait, what? Tank, what is she talking about? Dara could see the half buried object, but it was…

“Millie, I can’t just break that. It’s metal!”

“Hit it a bunch of times! The valve must be buried in its body, but if you can break it off, we can kill this thing!”

Right, I have no idea what she’s talking about, but she seems to know… Dara reached out and grabbed all the debris she could. Gasping with the strain, she started throwing them, only this time aiming for the white can. The first hit it, sending a deep gonging sound into the air. Some others missed and were grabbed by the mass of the golem, being assimilated into its body.

I can’t miss! If the can is covered by the rest of the debris…

Dara reached out and grabbed what was left of a stone bench. The exertion was really starting to get to her, every bone in her body aching.

Not physical, mystical, but it feels the same, Dara thought absently as she backed up from the advancing golem.

The very angry golem.

Then Dara flung the stone as hard as she could, putting every bit of energy she had left into it. It struck the can, and for a moment there was nothing. Then she heard a hissing sound as some kind of vapor started escaping from the tar and stone body.

What in the?

“Set it on fire! Set it on fire!” Millie shouted.

Dara shook her head, and called what power she had left. The fire wasn’t so much a bolt of fire as a few sparks. It probably wouldn’t hurt—and then it touched the vapor, and the golem was flailing around, a pillar of fire rising around it.

“Come on!” Millie shouted, running by Dara and pulling her along.

“Millie, fire’s not going to stop it!”

“Trust me, I know, now run!”

Dara ran with Millie, the flaming golem charging after them. Great, now we’re going to get murdered by an angry golem that is also on fire. I—

The force of the explosion picked Dara up and tossed her across the sidewalk before she hit the ground and rolled on it, seeming to hit every part of her body that didn’t already have a bruise on it. Shaking her head and trying to get the ringing out of her ears, Dara looked to where the golem had been.

Now, everything above its waist was gone. The legs twitched, then it collapsed, burning tar running out.

Millie was saying something, but Dara couldn’t quite hear her. She gestured to her ear.

Millie leaned down and shouted into her ear. “Is it dead!”

“Y-yes, I mean, not dead, but the animating power isn’t—“

“It’s not going to get up and try to murder us, is it?”

Shaking her head, the ringing sound in her ears gradually clearing, Dara stared at the remains of the golem. “No. Hitting the physical vessel like that… no. I mean, some spirits could reform, but they’re really rare.” She walked towards it, kicking chunks of golem out of the way. “This is its heart.”

“What?”

Dara reached down and picked up what looked like a nodule of obsidian. “Golems need a heart. It’s their core, what powers them and makes them more durable than just a normal animated body.” She stared at it. “But it’s not like any core I’ve ever seen…”

“Yeah great,” Millie said. “How about we look at that after we get out of here.”

“We’re not in any more danger. The golem’s dead.”

“Great. We also trashed an LA landmark and set off a bomb in a public place. Hear all the sirens?”

Dara paused, and then her eyes widened. Her hearing was recovering and that ringing sound actually wasn’t ringing. It was the sound of approaching sirens.

Lots of them.

“The guard will be coming here?”

“If you mean the cops? Yeah. And the fire department, and the FBI and probably the girl scouts, for all I know,” Millie was looking around. “Aaaannnddd the fog is going away. Why is the fog going away?”

“I’m sort of exhausted.” Dara stared at Millie. “It’s not like I fight a golem every day.”

“Well… Crap.”

Crap, crap, crap… Millie looked around. The moment the fog went away, there would be people in here. The only reason there weren’t people in here right now probably was due to the worry that they might bump into whatever had been making the noise. But that wasn’t going to last.

“Dara, do you have enough oomph, or whatever the hell it is you use for magic to give us a moving fogbank?”

“What?”

“Cover the west side,” Millie said. “Just for two or three minutes, enough time for us to get across the street, and then we can get something to eat.”

“But we need to get…” Dara looked down at her prize. She shook her head and swayed. “Why go and eat?”

“Because we made a lot of noise,” Millie said. “And if we just jump into the car and zoom off, someone may notice. So, can you do this?”

“I… I think so,” Dara said.

“Then let’s go.” Millie led Dara down the pathways, even as the surrounding fog continued to dissipate. Above them, she could start to see the light of the buildings around the park and the sound of a helicopter. A bright bar of light stabbed down, a searchlight.

Great, the LAPD’s here. At least it looked like they were looking in the wrong part of the park, and the fog was still dense enough that the searchlight was doing more harm than good, the fog diffusing the beam. But they finally got to the side of the park and Millie nodded. There was the gate.

And there was the wrecked part of the fence, a dead car just beyond it. Thank you annoying car alarm. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have known that the golem had managed to nail something outside of the park. Nobody was around the car, but she could see the outlines of the people on the other side of the street.

“Kid, now!” Millie said.

Dara groaned, and then suddenly the fog was streaming past them, more fog rising, turning it back into the impenetrable pea soup it had been before. Dara staggered, but Millie grabbed her by one arm, hauling her up and over the wrecked section of the fence. The street outside was barely visible now, but they had to take the chance of getting plastered by a car. Millie pulled Dara after her, getting across the street as quickly as she could. Then her foot struck the edge of the sidewalk and there were indistinct forms looming out of the darkness.

“Why is the fog spreading?”

“Can’t see a thing…”

“Jesus, am I back in San Francisco?”

Other comments rose around them as Millie leaned down to Dara. “Okay, Kid, you can cut it.”

“I…” Dara staggered. “It’s um… done…” she said, slurring her words.

Shit, kid, don’t pass out, not here. We don’t need the attention. Millie kept walking, looking for the little diner that she’d seen coming in. Be open, be open…

There it was, the bright display lights shining out into the dissipating fog. Millie pushed the door open.

“Wow, where did that fog come from?” she asked the waitress.

The girl shrugged. “Some kind of stunt, I guess.”

You have no idea, Millie thought as she pushed Dara into the booth. The smaller girl was shivering, and Millie ordered some warm tea, as well as some ham and eggs, since Dara had liked that beforehand.

Outside, there were sirens. Several firetrucks whipped by them, and now that the fog was lifting, people were taking pictures of the wrecked fence while LAPD units closed the road and police started moving in, their flashlights waving. A helicopter hovered overhead, its search light flicking over the park.

But no one burst into the diner to pull Millie and Dara out and put cuffs on them.

Which is good. For now… The waitress brought their tea and Millie handed the cup to Dara.

Dara was shivering as she brought the tea to her lips and took a sip.

“You okay?”

“I… yeah, I just need to eat something.”

“It’s coming. So was that your thief?” Millie looked around, but nobody was paying any attention to them. “Did he set up a trap?”

“I… I don’t think so.” Dara shook her head. “It didn’t feel like any magic he’d used.”

“Yeah, but you know, this is the first time a magic monster had trashed part of LA, so my bet is that it’s linked.”

“I don’t… I don’t know,” Dara said. Millie touched her hand. It was still cold.

“Think about it later,” Millie said. “We’ll eat here, go out and watch the cops, and then go home.”

“But won’t that make people suspicious?”

“Right now?” Millie gestured out the window at the growing crowd. “Trust me, people are going to be here all night. Nobody is going to notice anything different about us.”

“What about our clothes?” Dara gestured at the stains on her top.

“It’s LA. That’s not the oddest thing people have seen, and if anyone asks, we just took a tumble in the fog.”

“Right.” Dara glanced up as the waitress returned with their food. Moments after the waitress left, Dara was eating.

I’d better find out just how much gas she has in the tank, Millie thought. Especially if we have to keep doing stuff like this. She took a look out at the park. Now there were dozens of trucks out, including a county HAZMAT unit, and at least one SWAT team. If they hadn’t been able to use the fog to get out of the park, they’d be in there with all those cops.

By the time they finished their meal, Dara was drooping.

“C’mon kid, time to walk around and go home.”

“Kay…”

Millie shook her head and helped Dara up as she paid for the meal. Outside, there were still people, even though it was getting close to midnight. Now there were news vans, reporters talking as they gestured to the park.

Well, we did find out something. We just didn’t do it very quietly. With that, Millie led the half-asleep Dara to their car. A few moments later, they were waved onto the road by a cop directing traffic and were heading out of the area.

“I need to check—“

“You need to go home and go to sleep,” Millie said. “Is it going to explode?”

“No.”

“Get up and walk away?”

“No.”

“Then it can wait until morning.”

Dara didn’t say anything, and when Millie glanced over, she realized that Dara had fallen asleep.

Good. I can put her to bed and figure out what the hell I’m going to do. Because they needed a plan better than just going and poking things. Especially things that could poke back.

With that, she settled back in her seat and hit the on-ramp to the 110. It was time to get home.

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