Pain erupted in Elijah’s back as his attacker brought incredibly sharp claws to bear. Due to his high Constitution, he wasn’t ripped to shreds, but the claws still scraped against his ribs. As the creature – whatever it was – tore his flesh to ribbons, one facet of Elijah’s mind focused on casting Form of the Guardian. The second he finished the spell, his body started to morph.
First, he grew scales. Then, his arms extended, his hands becoming vicious claws. His legs didn’t grow any shorter, but the effect was the sa due to the lengthening of his torso and the sheer amount of muscle that ca with the form of the lallar ape. The mont the transformation was complete, Elijah used Iron Scales. It didn’t do anything for the ruin that had already been wrought on his back, but it would hopefully prevent more damage in the imdiate future.
But only for a few seconds. Then, he would have to cast it again, which was not a viable strategy. Using the ability in quick succession would drain his stamina very rapidly, and if he employed that approach, he would quickly wear himself out. As a result, he was on the clock.
With that tir occupying one facet of his mind, Elijah used the second of solace granted by his ability to shove himself to his feet. With his long arms, he tried to dislodge the creature on his back, but it was both too small and too awkwardly positioned. So, even with his extended reach, he couldn’t get ahold of the thing. So, after spying the nearest tree, he launched himself backwards. Just before he crashed into the massive trunk, the little monster on his back leaped free.
That was when Elijah got his first look at the thing.
“Is that a housecat?” he murmured, his transford voice coming out as more of a growl.
Indeed, the supposed monster was clearly a housecat, though Elijah wasn’t certain of the breed. With an extraordinarily fluffy coat of tawny fur, it would’ve looked like a stuffed animal if it wasn’t for the blood splattered across its chest. The animal was also more than twice the size of any housecat Elijah had ever seen, which ant that its stature was similar to a mountain lion.
“Don’t hurt her!” scread the boy, his voice cracking. Then, he added, “No Artemis! Bad girl! Leave the man…er…monster alone!”
The cat, which Elijah belatedly recognized as a Maine Coon, briefly shifted its focus to the boy. That gave Elijah an opening he wasn’t going to squander. So, he launched himself forward, intending to end the fight with a single blow. With the increased Haste effect from Sash of the Whirlwind, Elijah moved with incredible alacrity, and he managed to take the distracted cat by surprise.
His claws glinted tallically as they swept out, but when he made contact with the little monster’s tawny fur, he got the surprise of a lifeti. The sound of tal scratching against tal filled the air, and though the montum of the blow sent the cat sailing through the air, the attack did not bear the results Elijah had anticipated.
The little creature twisted, hitting a tree feet-first, then launched itself back at Elijah. He barely had ti to once again use Iron Scales before it hit him like a launched missile. Despite its comparatively small size – after all, even a bobcat was tiny compared to his lallar ape form – the impact of its attack sent him staggering backwards. Then, it savaged his chest with its sharp claws, though most of the damage was mitigated by the still-ongoing Iron Scales.
But it was set to end soon.
To avoid having his chest shredded as thoroughly as his back, Elijah clambered for a grip on the little creature, and to his surprise, he managed to grab ahold of its great, bushy tail. However, when he did, he felt sothing that, once again, filled him with surprise. Instead of fluffy fur, the cat was covered in sothing more akin to the bristles of a steel brush. When his claws closed around the tail, he felt those bristles painfully digging into his palm. Yet, he wasn’t going to let such a perfect opportunity go to waste. So, despite the annoying pain, his grip tightened. And when he had a good hold of the tail, he ripped the creature away from his chest and slamd it against the ground.
Once.
Twice.
Three tis, channeling his inner Hulk. The little monster yowled in agony, but Elijah wasn’t rewarded with the sound of breaking bones. Instead of being crippled by being slamd into the ground multiple tis, the cat had gone wild, clawing anything that ca into range. That ant that, as soon as Iron Scales wore off, the creature tore into his wrist and forearm.
Elijah’s Constitution was high, so those claws didn’t sever tendons, but even if it wasn’t permanently damaging, it was more than enough to frustrate him. However, just before he took his anger out on the cat via another slamming attack, sothing hit Elijah in his already wounded back. The sll of sizzling at assailed his nose before the blistering agony reached his mind. And when it did, he reacted reflexively, loosening his grip just enough that the cat was able to wriggle free.
“Leave her alone!” scread the boy.
Elijah stumbled to his knees as the flesh of his back smoldered. Then, another attack landed, and the molten pain shot through the roof. He collapsed onto his chest as another fireball sailed overhead, hitting a nearby tree and setting it alight. Elijah tried to rise, but with the muscles in his back having been destroyed, he couldn’t move more than a few inches.
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His options were limited. Touch of Nature was powerful, but the healing it offered was far from instantaneous. Given that he could scarcely move, and he had two enemies bearing down on him, that just wouldn’t work. So, without any other choices he could see, Elijah used Guardian’s Renewal.
Guardian’s Renewal
Instantly and completely regenerate. Cooldown affected by Regeneration attribute. Current: Once Per 6.7 Days.
The ability was instant, and his body imdiately recovered. Muscles nded, flesh reford, and his scales were quickly restored. Yet a lingering pain persisted, almost as if he had a pulled muscle. As far as Elijah knew, that shouldn’t have been possible. Fortunately, it wasn’t enough to hinder him, but in one facet of his Mind, he was definitely concerned.
More distressing was what he finally allowed himself to notice. The pervasive, sickly sweet scent of rot filled the air, and beneath the cat’s fur was a series of familiar, black tendrils. Now that he saw it – albeit only barely – Elijah knew the source. He’d seen such a thing before, and the encounter had been significant and terrifying enough that he would never forget it. Clearly, the cat had run afoul of a dinsional rift, which had infected it with the madness Elijah had seen from the bear back on his island. Back then, he’d managed to close the rift before it had spread too much, but from the looks of it, wherever the cat had been infected had probably been there for quite so ti.
“W-what? How?” breathed the boy.
Elijah rose to his feet, completely restored. That prompted another attack from the young man, who summoned a ball of blue-white fire and tossed it in Elijah’s direction. Now that he could see it coming, he had no issues dodging it, and when he did, Elijah darted forward to wrap his massive claw around the young man’s waist. At the sa ti, the cat managed to push itself to its feet and flee into the surrounding forest. It used so sort of ability, because it even disappeared from One with Nature far before it had ti to leave the area of effect.
So, with only one enemy left, Elijah turned his full attention to the young man. He squeezed, then growled, “Why did you attack ?”
“Please…she’s just sick…she’s not…she’s not bad! Don’t hurt her!”
The fury of the lallar ape threatened to overwhelm Elijah, but he shoved it aside in favor of human calm. Still, he was prepared to rip the young man in two if the situation called for it. In fact, he craved that outco in ways he didn’t want to think about.
“Explain,” he growled.
“She’s…she’s my only friend! Please don’t hurt her anymore!”
“I won’t,” Elijah snarled. He fully realized that the statent was entirely contrary to his tone, but he didn’t dare switch back to his much more vulnerable human form. That fire would have eaten a hole through him in a second if he hadn’t been in his Guardian shape. He unsuccessfully tried to soften his voice as he once again prompted, “Explain. Now.”
“O-okay. Okay. Just…just don’t hurt her…”
Then, the young man launched into what sounded to Elijah like an unlikely tale. According to Atlas – which Elijah surmised was the boy’s na – the animal was his cat, Artemis. Just after Earth had experienced the touch of the World Tree, the cat had started to level via hunting various pests in Argos. It had also beco the young man’s protector, keeping him safe until he was old enough to take an archetype. He’d chosen the Sorcerer archetype, though he didn’t specify his class. Elijah got the feeling that most people kept that information to themselves, at least in Argos.
“Then, Artemis started hunting other cats. Even dogs,” Atlas explained. “She kept getting stronger, too. So did I. And when we found out about the tower, I was one of the people asked to go. I…I was the only one who made it back. When I did, Artemis was gone. And all the animals in the city had been killed. I don’t know if that was before or after she got…infected.”
Elijah sighed, which ca out more like a growl. Then, he finally let the young man fall from his grip and made a choice that, in a vacuum, was probably stupid. However, the alternative was sothing he didn’t want to consider. He shifted back to his human form, which caused Atlas to scramble backwards in fear.
Holding up a hand, Elijah said, “Calm down. I’m going to heal you, okay? And then you’re going to show where the rift is. Once I close it, we’ll find your cat, and I’ll try to remove the infection.”
“What? How? You’re not a Healer.”
“You’re not wrong. But I’m close enough,” Elijah responded, already casting Healing Rain. As the soothing precipitation started to fall, he added, “See? Healing Rain. Feels good, right? I’m here to help.”
Elijah was well aware that his bedside manner left a little to be desired, but he hoped that his calm tone, human visage, and healing would bridge the gap and allow the young man to trust him – at least enough that he wouldn’t start tossing more of those blue-white fireballs at him.
“I…I…”
He didn’t get anything else out before Elijah took a step forward and laid his hand on the young man’s shoulder. He wasn’t going to push his luck by insisting on a proper examination, so he settled for the untargeted form of Touch of Nature. That was usually fine for self-healing, but when he was trying to nd soone else’s injuries, it was decidedly less effective. Still, he made do, suffusing the young man’s body with rejuvenating energy.
Atlas gasped and flinched before he was beset by a series of tremors as his body nded. In the end, it took six casts of Touch of Nature to heal the boy, which was a testant to Atlas’s level of power.
“That…most people have trouble healing ,” he muttered, looking down at his bloodstained clothes. “Because of my class…”
Elijah could tell that the young man didn’t want to talk about that, so he asked, “What’s your real na? And don’t tell it’s really Atlas. I know that’s bullshit.”
“Oh. It’s Isaak. The Atlas thing wasn’t my idea.”
“Well, Isaak,” Elijah said, holding out his hand. “I’m Elijah.” When the young man grasped his hand, he pulled Isaak to his feet and added, “Nice to et you. Now, let’s go find that rift. With any luck, we’ll have your cat healed by the end of the day.”
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