Run!

Ethereal scythes wrapped around Oldum and Mizu. There weren’t any more shiners in the vicinity to impede his escape. Thank the mysterious woman for taking care of them. He sent another ethereal scythe upwards. It hooked on to the top of the passage and he, along with the other two, lurched upwards, away from the crazy woman.

“I didn’t mean it that way. You won’t die.”

Sayhas didn’t spare a glance backwards. The woman didn’t seem to be giving chase. She was toying with them. Arrogant. Not that she didn’t deserve to be cocky. She had every right to assume she was in complete control of the situation. Too bad she didn’t do her homework.

Sayhas broke out of passage, cresting way over the top of the walls before propelling himself forward. Breathing in the open air, Sayhas gained distance. Mizu launched her realm dagger out of sight. Hopefully, the woman didn’t notice that the dagger was sent in the opposite direction. The rocky terrain faded into a grey blur as they streaked past, gradually picking up speed. He counted the seconds, they didn't need that many.

A light, sonorous jingle buzzed. He stole a glance backwards. Like a meteor, a spiky red orb unnervingly homed onto them.

It closed in, adjusting to every minute change Sayhas made to his trajectory. It was unfair how she had so many overpowered aspects. And despite them clearly already being outclassed, Sayhas had an inkling that her real abilities haven't been shown yet. That’s why they wouldn’t give her the chance.

Dissonant sounds screamed around Sayhas as Mizu activated her realm dagger. He cringed internally, not willing to show Mizu weakness for even a split second. If she should endure it in quick succession, so could Sayhas.

He felt himself being compressed in every direction and lobbed elsewhere in the blink of an eye. Sayhas resisted the urge to hurl when the teleportation finished.

“Scattered ashes break my bones,” Mizu swore formally.

“Hmm?” Sayhas asked, still suppressing his nausea.

Mizu jerked her face towards the passage. Sayhas followed her gaze by expanding his hearing radius. With his brain scrambled after the long-distance improper teleport, it wasn’t an easy feat.

“Cinders,” Sayhas muttered.

Although they had put half the forest between them and the chasm. Although Oldum had deployed a hiding aspect. Although they essentially went in a random direction. Steadily making its way, was the red orb. Sayhas latched on to the nearest tree. It didn’t matter what direction, it only needed to be away.

Bands of light filtered through the gaps in the canopy, sending a misty light into the foreboding forest. The small illumination it gave was barely enough for Sayhas to navigate between the feisty branches. They were good hand holds but a single mistake and he’d be spiralling down. Sayhas hated travelling in a forest. He’d much rather be above, drinking the sunlight. But that would just make him a target.

A thin branch sliced into his duster, tearing off a piece of fabric. The forest seemed to move against him, blocking his advance. He avoided one directed at his collar only to find a gash in his forearm. Even when he was in tip top shape, travelling at high speeds through a forest was extremely hard. Having two units of baggage trailing along didn’t help his case either.

Sayhas navigated towards a small clearing. Sayhas strained his ears. Did they lose the orb? The distinct melody was hard to miss. It had erratic beats and stuck out like a sore thumb when compared to the rather gentle buzz of a normal forest. Surprisingly enough, the erratic melody sounded beautiful.

He frowned looking backwards, swearing under his breath.

The orb had caught up.

Sayhas withdrew the ethereal connection with the other two. There would be no more running. He just wished he had figured that out earlier.

Mizu blasted it with a loud bolt of fire. The flames seared down the middle of the orb. Any normal aspect would have faded away. This one took it in stride separating into two halves, front and back. The first morphed into a spear, accelerating towards them. The second unravelled into dozens of golden coiled ropes.

A three-layered, translucent honeycomb lattice sprung up in front of the spear, courtesy of Oldum. It absorbed the spear but not without a cost. Two layers were completely stripped away and the last one was on its last legs. Of the seven laced hexagons, three remained. They leaked discordant noise, barely holding together.

He heard a mysterious light echo of a sound. His instincts took over and he jerked backwards avoiding a rope by a hair's breadth. Memorizing the general Discord of the ropes, Sayhas formed a mental image of all of them. Gold filled his peripherals as multiple ropes tried to strike at him. Sayhas dance between the ropes, closing his eyes. The colours were a distraction. Vision itself was a liability. Each one missed, he knew where they were, he’d never get hit.

The ropes apparently learned that too. After barely ten seconds, they stopped attacking him, focusing on easier prey. Oldum was doing fine, his honeycomb shield had faded away but he had a new wreath of wispy light surrounding him. The faint glow reached out with tendrils when the ropes neared him, softly adjusting their course. The ropes around him quickly gave up.

Leaving Mizu to face the brunt of it all.

Yet, despite having no defensive abilities and not having her main weapons with her, she was fine. With nimble feet and light steps, she wove between the ropes, displaying more grace and awarity then even Sayhas, despite him being able to know where all the ropes where. Fed up with her persistence, the ropes charged her all at once. Miraculously, she thread a dagger between them, teleporting to it moments before being struck. Show off Sayhas thought how does your head not hurt. As if dodging the undodgeable wasn't enough, she caught her dagger and sliced horizontally at the nearest ropes.

That turned out to be a mistake.

The second her steel met the robe it morphed to around the dagger and wrapped around Mizu’s arm. In less then a second she was completely bound and being dragged off into the forest.

Even worse, during that exchange, both he and Oldum were deemed easy targets again and both got tagged by multiple ropes. Ancient Discord entered his body; Maaier Speal suddenly got a lot heavier.

Twilight half-moons and ethereal scythes alike spiralled around him. With a thought, he severed the ropes around him and Oldum. In a heartbeat, they were sliced into fine, harmless chunks. He waved his hand at Mizu freeing her from her bondage. After one final sweep, he dismissed Maaier Speal and collapsed to his knees. Inside him, a storm brewed, churning and swirling into itself. His Discord was in absolute shambles; he wouldn’t use it anytime soon.

On the bright side, he was conscious. That was a victory.

“If anything comes out of that forest…” Sayhas vowed, sweat dripping down his nose, “I’ll do something not nice.”

Before he could stand up, insane vertigo smashed into him.

. . .

"You have no idea what went into that orb,” the mysterious woman complained. "But here we are, back again. Please don't do that again."