Ti stretched thin.
There was a blur of darkness behind her, sothing almost imperceptible to the eye. The sound of a low moaning growl combined with the smooth swish echoing down the plastic slide was profoundly unsettling. If my sister had all her senses, she would have heard it too. But while she was astoundingly perceptive in countless other ways, no amount of wishful thinking could change the fact that my sister was deaf.
The button at my pocket popped open with the flick of a thumb and I drew flipping the tip of the blade between my fingers and preparing to throw it. The weapon housed one of my summons, and if I could thread the needle between my sisters upper torso and the exterior wall of the slide behind her, it would place a giant pissed off wolf between her and whatever the hell it was hurtling down the slide.
What if you miss?
An intrusive voice whispered, forcing to hesitate for a fraction of a second. Iris had no context for what was happening. From her perspective, Id gone from lounging, to running straight for her. We had a lot of trust but she was still a kid. I was experienced enough to know I could hit my markId spent plenty of ti with the blade and made more difficult throws in the past from greater rangesbut that wasnt accounting for human error.
If she flinched? It was over.
I wouldnt make it in ti. Whatever it was had reached the bottom and I could see nothing more than a maw filled with countless teeth homing in on her, glistening with saliva.
There were options. Not many, but a few. All of them involved breaking my own rules.
I did it without hesitation.
a new Ordinator ability, extended from my fingertips in a nearly imperceptible spear of blue light. It t temporary resistance from Iriss mind, like she was poking at it, unsure of what it was but accepting just the sa.
Roll over the right side NOW.
My sister responded imdiately, awkward scrambling off the side just as a twisted, nightmarish amalgam of teeth and flesh snapped viciously at the bottom of the slide. It was an asymtrical abomination, and what little I could see of it was impossible to make sense of. Devoid of an obvious target, I plunged in the sickly yellow flesh above its mouth.
It squealed, shrieking as Talia took form and ripped into it in a ss of growls and guttural tearing. A yelp followed.
It's strong. my summon warned, pained voice speaking directly into my mind.
How strong?
I may only buy you a small window. Run!
I was already scooping up Iris, leaving a small, child-sized imprint in the peat as I held her to my chest and ran.
There was more movent at the corner of my vision, monstrous and hulking.
Whatever they were, there were more of them. I reached in my inventory and grasped the flight charm, intending to fly directly back to the adventurers guild eting hall.
A shadow lood overhead, shattering my focus. A macabre raven with five eyes stared down at , pumping its wings above. Several others circled at a higher altitude.
Shit. They look agile, and the charm takes a while to wear off. Cant risk flight.
Iris said sothing but I couldnt hear her, my mind too full, trying to simultaneously send out an ergency ssage to everyone I knew, and get a grip on what was happening and why.
Outside of dungeons or other realms of Flauros, native monster attacks were rare. Which implied that this thing was either soones creations or under their direct influence. They were targeting either Iris or . I had a hard ti believing the forrIris was too valuable of an asset to kill, at most an antagonistic third party would want to kidnap or take her hostage. But the latter made little sense either. If I was out and about as Myrddin, there was no shortage of people whod want to swing at given the price on my head. But here in my ho region, I was acting as Matt.
Matt, who held the status of Leader of a region that traded mostly on the value of its enchantable lumber and was heavily connected with both the rchants and Adventurers Guild? He was supposed to be almost untouchable.
Apparently not.
I finished the ergency ssage and fired it off slipshod to every friend or acquaintance who owed a favor in my contact list, embedding a location pin, praying that wed have backup before it was too late. A landslide of ssages returned, all of which I ignored as I ran, pressing into the more heavily wooded area for cover and making as much ground as I could.
In my arms, Iris squird, face contorted in panic as she whisper-cried and began to hyperventilate. I swore internally and swerved, ducking beneath a branch and planting my back to a large tree. I looked down at her and mouthed. Deep breaths, kiddo, demonstrating by taking a few exaggerated inhales and exhales myself.
She was still ghostly pale, and scared, but she caught on quickly, breaths spreading out and normalizing. Head hurts. Whats happening? she whispered.
The headache was an unfortunate side-effect of Unlike most of my abilities, it wasnt subtle. The target would feel the influence as coercion, and a successful cast ant they were forced to carry out what I commanded in a painfully-short-term window. And if the actions went against character, theyd co back to themselves, clearly understanding what had transpired.
Figuring that out. Watch my back?
Truth be told, I wasnt really expecting her to. Iris had been shielded from most of this since the beginning, outside of so of the early event and riot, and as an unfortunate byproduct, this was her first real brush with mortal danger. Shed be doing well if she didnt freeze up completely.
It was more about giving her sothing to do, blunting the trauma of helplessness.
Still, Iris nodded, her lips tight and quivering.
I took a half second to scroll through my ssages until I spotted Grit and Ire, the hired rcenaries who escorted whenever I left the Region as Matt.
Grits ssages were mostly expletives, but Ire was mostly coherent. According to him they were en route, and Ire also sent the coordinates for a nearby block corner where theyd stop.
Less than a hundred yards away.
I oriented myself eastward and ran, huffing as the greenery blew by, trying to run straight and keeping my head on a swivel for threats that might have been lurking behind the large trunks of nearby trees. Heavy footsteps crunched through the asphalt behind , gaining ground as I catapulted through the urban forest, eyes set on the white glow of the tree-line until I broke through, tripping and awkwardly stumbling, trying to find my balance without dropping my sister.
My eyes slowly panned up to the intersection.
This was larger scale than Id realized. The monsters looked less like monsters in the clear light of day. There werent many of them, but the warped human faces mounted on monstrous bodies, and the sheer deadliness of those bodies ensured no one would take them lightly. A few fights had already broken out.
And the pavent, where Grit and Ire were ant to arrive, was empty.
Soone throw a fucking bone here, I snarled, summoning my system-Prius and loading Iris into it. My sister scrambled into the passenger seat, leaning back, her eyes wild. Its going to be okay. I told her, only to be cut off by an overhead screech.
The ravens from before had found us.
A giant bird ahead of the pack was diving straight down at on a collision course, its talons outstretched.
shot my hand-crossbows butt into my palm and I focused on the ravens middle eye, my wrist automatically adjusting to correct the shot.
The twang of a bow matched my trigger-pull.
The raven spiraled from the twin impacts, one of them exploding, plumting off-course and spiraling downward, caving in the roof of a nearby car with considerable force.
A few slabs of sidewalk away from an archer stood from a kneeling position. The recent addition of a floating cowl that flowed behind him beside the thickly weaved body armor, green eyes, and tightly coiffed blonde hair made his visage almost nauseatingly picturesque.
Fed turned Prince Charming.
Nice shot, kid. Miles said, nocking another arrow.
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