When Last Night Didn't End

6.4

My legs thumped against the ground, driving another cloud of dust and debris. Across the field, I could see Cavya and the others freeze in shock, their faces crumpling in both fear and awe. Before they decided to kill me, I turned my hazy gaze towards the beasts of my kind.

With a scream, I attacked.

The world blurred and sharpened as I felt the revolting squelch of flesh against the tusks growing from the corner of my lips. I sent all of my trunks straight into the heads, piercing through the skull and crushing the mass of shadows from the inside. Some wrapped around their feet, pulling them from under before ramming them against the wall or another creature.

Their eyes flitted around, lids opening wide like they couldn't believe one of their own had suddenly gone crazy. Well, joke's on them. I wasn't their kind.

From the corner of my tunneled periphery, I watched Ahrian slide down the crevice just enough to reach Valren and Nazran who climbed up like they've lost all the strength to do so. A danburki saw through the plan and charged at them. Not on my watch.

I rampaged through the fray, knocking confused beasts out of the way. My tusks punched into the beast's side. It roared in pain. I matched it with a defiant one, using the strength afforded me to throw its flailing body aside. Just as I turned to check if the others were fine, another stab of pain sped down my spine. Crap. That's the spell running out.

A blurry image of Ahrian's beak was the last thing I registered before the red and gray consumed me.

"...pid forest. How much farther to town? It doesn't look like he would make it," her voice bled into my ears as my senses struggled to come back. My ears rang and it seemed like the tips of my boots skidded against the forest floor. Footsteps and metal clinking occupied the rest of the noise landscape. Where were we? What happened?

"He's awake," came Nazran's familiar voice. They're talking about me, then. I blinked, forcing my vision to sharpen back into focus. "Set him down for a bit, Ahri. It's going to come knocking any time soon."

What would?

I felt myself getting lowered to the ground just as my stomach churned and bile climbed up my throat. Something rancid went out, scratching my gut and gullet enough to wake me. My chest heaved, trying to catch the breath knocked out of my lungs as I retched. A wave of nausea rolled over me, and I gagged once more, my fingers closing around a bunch from the shrub nearest me.

That would.

"Are you done?" Ahrian's impatience bled through the static in my ears. I raised my head and wiped at my mouth. My palms came up slicked with dark goo. Did I...?

"That's a risky and foolish move," Nazran was suddenly beside me, his pink hair camouflaging well with the splotches of color in the undergrowth around us. "To think you'd actually use your magic to replicate a netherbeast. It's...never been done before, at least one that succeeded."

Oh.

"How's your head?" he asked.

I groaned. "Like it's splitting in half."

"What's your name?"

I frowned. What's that got to do with anything? "Kora," I answered just to get it out of the way.

"Where were you from?"

"Nippon."

"What?"

My insides churned at the sudden realization of what I just uttered. "Never mind that," I attempted to stand up but my legs knocked together, causing me to stumble straight into the bush. A strong grip around my arm prevented me from sinking deeper into it.