Solo Visions and Apparitions

[Jay Darkcrest]

Winter 81, 515 AV


Dark eyes glued to the lonely door with the inverted triangle, Jay flipped a coin. Gold flashed in the air before he caught it with easy grace and slapped it on the back of his palm. He looked at it and grinned. Then he turned the handle and stepped onward through the door.

Only to land in the middle of Hai. Shouts, screams, pounding footsteps, the stench of burning flesh, rot and metallic blood. The sky was bleeding dark smoke, fire was cackling in the distance.

Jay staggered a little as his stomach turned. As he steadied himself against a brick wall, he noticed hurried movement in the back alleys all around where he’d landed. When he turned, confused faces were staring back at him, some trembling with fear, some shining with grim determination. Suddenly a booming voice cut through the noise and demanded his full attention. “Those who wish to fight, with me!”

The Serpent’s words ignited something within the Kelvic. There it was again, the unbreakable will to survive, to persevere against all odds. He could move on without explanations as long as he had something to do. Alvadas was at war, he understood, and the streets were a battlefield. He’d never fought in a war, no, but he’d hunted and fished and practiced fighting with his hands. He’d battled towering waves and storms. This couldn’t be much different, aye?

Taking his twin daggers into both hands, Jay followed the Serpent into a wide plaza where most of the fights were raging. While the commander sped off, half a dozen horribly deformed and reeking creatures burst out of the next street. With adrenaline surge through his veins, Jay jumped back and moved seamlessly to fight them back.

Fighting the undead was nothing like bracing the stormy sea.

Despite his lack of combat experience, an active lifestyle and constant shifting between his human and animal form kept Jay fit and fairly toned. Compared to his sleek and agile form, his opponents seemed bulky and moved sluggishly. If he concentrated, he could duck out of their clumsy swipes and kicks easily. Dancing back a few steps, he took care not to get trapped between them and instead tried to keep other Alvad fighters to his left and right. When the decaying man in front of him stumbled forward after a punch, Jay saw an opening and hurled himself forward.

His right hand surged upwards and his blade slashed across the thing’s neck. Blood spilled, a great deal of thick black blood, and the creature let out a pained grunt. Before Jay could attack again, a raven-haired woman plunged her sword into its chest. It crumpled, covered in its own black blood, and didn’t get up again.

It took a huge effort to avert his eyes from the corpse and look at the woman. “Thank you.”

She merely nodded, then turned away to fight back the rest. Jay swallowed, stepped over the corpse and focused on the next one.

[Jay Darkcrest]

If they could, fighters stuck together and moved in small packs, covering each other’s backs. Battling the undead left, right and center, Jay and a few others had drifted west from the plaza.

After bringing down a trio of horribly deformed creatures, humanoid with animal limbs and claws, they were gifted with a brief moment of respite. Looking up, Jay saw a massive black ape, almost as tall as the surrounding buildings, and a beautiful pale woman riding his back. Even from the distance, he recognized the white hair and creamy complexion dotted with scales. A Konti.

The dark-haired woman was wiping her sword on the tattered clothes of a corpse as she followed his gaze. “That’s Okana, you know, the fortune teller? She’s in charge of guarding the area around here, together with Menna.” She nodded over her shoulder. South, maybe southeast. “Over there is the base camp. We don’t want anyone breaking through to the rations and the injured.”

“Menna’s here?” He recognized the name from the stories Danisar had told him, Menna Moresly, the ghost of a girl, associated with Divine Legacy. If she had been here a long time, that’d explain why Karash, the owner of Divine Legacy, had been sighted on the streets earlier that season. Apparently he had been looking for her.

The woman merely nodded, sheathed her sword with a sharp clang and sped off towards where Okana had just passed. Jay followed her more slowly, carefully listening for any signs of the enemy, hoping that he’d stumble over Menna sometime. Dusk was beginning to fall, the sky had turned a dark inky shade of blue. The Kelvic felt the exhaustion in every muscle. He could traverse woods or flatlands all day long, hunting for food as he went, but this was different. All of his senses were in overdrive and had been for bells. Letting his guard down for one moment could mean an early grave.

After creeping through the alley, he came to a wide street. To his right, several people were fighting back a line of undead, wielding steel and fire, with Okana and her huge ape right in the middle of it. Snarling, Jay started towards them, ready to defend the camp he knew was somewhere down the street.

At least four people – among them a large Dhani and an emerald Akalak – tried to keep a savage beast in check. Softly padding closer, Jay realized it was some sort of chimaera, with a lion’s head, yellow mane and front paws, an eagle’s claws for hind legs and a black scorpion’s tail that loomed high above its opponents. Judging from the way they stood closer to him than anyone else, he supposed the creature had breached the line of defense before they had stopped its advances.

As he moved around behind two men, Jay picked up a cracked brick. He aimed just as the beast roared at the Akalak’s lacan blades and hurled the brick at its massive head. It struck inches below its ear and although it bounced off the thick mane, the chimaera spun around to focus on the intruder.

Grinning, Jay danced backwards while the Akalak charged. Thanks to his little distraction, the green man managed to slash open the beast’s right shoulder before jumping back. “Thanks for coming, mate!” he shouted as the others attacked the thing from three sides.

“My pleasure!” Jay shouted back, almost laughing, relishing the thrill of the fight. This was something he hadn’t known before, the camaraderie and seamless timing of hunting as a pack, and he liked it.

[Jay Darkcrest]

Focusing on the undead chimaera again, he saw that the men were teasing it, keeping its attention, while the Dhani crept closer from the side. Just when the younger and more agile man jumped back to escape a vicious paw, the Dhani lunged and buried its fangs in the lion’s left side. She held on, curling her powerful scaled body around the chimaera, squeezing even as it thrashed, threw itself down and rolled around in the rubble.

Then the scorpion’s tail quivered and lowered itself towards the snakeling. Jay shouted a warning and sprang forward at the same time – he had the best reflexes, was the quickest, the most acrobatic... From behind, he gripped the tail with both arms, burying his daggers in the cracks between its black carapace, wrinkling his nose against the stench of rot.

With a mighty roar of fury, the beast buckled and protested even more frantically. Jay was lifted into the air as the tail coiled and uncoiled, trying and failing to throw him off. “Finish it!” he yelled, but the other three understood.

The two men came from the sides, hacking at its hind legs, and the Akalak attacked the head in a flurry of steel, nearly dancing with his blades. Metallic blood filled Jay’s nose, inarticulate roars and grunts his ears. Things happened too fast for him to see.

And then the tail slackened beneath his grip, his feet touched the cobblestone and buckled. Someone was cheering half-heartedly, more exhausted than anything else. The great monster writhed in a pool of dark blood as the Dhani. It pawed at them a few times, but couldn’t get up anymore, and eventually it stilled.

The Dhani shuddered and spat before Jay caught a glimpse of a thin smile. “Thessse thingsss, they tassste like wet assshes. Dissgusssting.”

The five shared brief looks of wordless gratitude before splitting up and rushing to help the other Alvads. Night had fallen, but some defenders were wielding torches and smoke was rising in the distance. While Jay and the others had brought down the chimaera, other undead had come from behind, climbing over their dead compatriots.

As Jay moved to join the line of defense, a familiar voice called out. “Oi! Dagger boy!” It was the dark-haired sword master, her face blackened with soot and dried blood. She lifted the twisted arm of an undead corpse she was dragging over the ground. “Help me pile those up! They make for good shields!”

“Aye!” Sheathing one of his daggers, Jay helped collect the fallen undead and build a low wall with their bodies. The chimaera could only be moved by three people. After some time, they had managed to extend the barricade across the entire street. Three or four people had bows and arrows, so they stuck a torch into the wall of rotting limbs and shot flaming arrows at every undead in plain sight. Although he had joined the ranks of close combat, Jay noticed that they did a good job at felling some before they had to be stabbed.

[Jay Darkcrest]

It was about a bell after nightfall, Jay guessed, when reinforcements arrived from the southern camp. Okana stopped long enough to urge those who had fought all day to leave, get some food and sleep. With the barricades, the archers and a handful of well-rested fighters, they were actually able to hold the street.

Jay followed the others down the street. After a few turns they reached the camp. To one side the injured were lying on mats and makeshift beds, tended to by the children and the elderly who, as the Kelvic guessed correctly, couldn’t or wouldn’t fight. To another side provisions were piled up, stored in trunks and a couple of cooling boxes. Torches were burning everywhere. Jay sat down to eat with the others, then found a quiet corner and wrapped himself in a threadbare blanket he’d found on the way to the camp.

He intended to sleep only for a few bells, but his internal clock had other plans. When he woke, dawn was breaking over the rooftops and the sky was pale. Suddenly in a hurry, he grabbed some bread and cheese before going back down the wide street to rejoin the defense lines.

He tried to go fast while eating at the same time, not bothering to keep an eye on his surroundings. If the enemy had gained ground during the night, he would’ve heard the tidings back at the camp, aye? Two blocks from the battlefield, he saw three men with axes and spears coming out of a side street.

Lifting a hand, he was about to hail them when the tallest one glanced in his direction and yelled “Watch out!”

White hot pain shot through his back and Jay fell forward, gasping. The next moment, he whirled around, face to face with a humanoid undead. Its left side seemed to have decayed or shrunk somehow, but it still sported vicious long claws on its hands and hissed at him with a split tongue. Barely aware of the warm liquid trickling down his back and left arm, Jay whipped out his daggers and ducked under a second swipe. Footsteps told him the men were approaching to aid him, but they weren’t close yet.

When the thing snarled, Jay ducked again and shot forward, nose wrinkled against the stench it emanated. His blade opened a deep gash across its stomach and it staggered. Furious, it launched a series of swipes and punches, forcing Jay back against a brick wall. He winced as his injured shoulder connected with the stone.

Then the half-decayed face stilled and a shudder went through the mutated body. Its head fell to the side and to the ground, revealing one of the men standing behind with his axe raised.

Jay sighed with relief, then winced as his shoulder throbbed. “Thank you.”

The man with the spear, sunburned and shorter than the others, eyed him with concern. “It got your shoulder, right? Let me see it.”

Biting his lip, Jay turned around eventually. He knew from the pain and the amount of warm liquid running down his back that it had to be deep, but he’d rather lick his wounds in solitude. Showing his weakness to others didn’t sit well with him.