“Why were you not casting while I was on my way?” I shout in irritation.

Someone I don’t recognize shouts back, “We had no idea if you would even make it.”

“And we had to hold back the Dargoth girl so we could finish preparations,” Someone else says.

Another voice calls out, “Besides, maintaining these spells for a long period of time is no easy task.”

There is another roar from within the building, and the crowd in front of me flinches, “Aim for the joints, cripple it and bring it down,” I shout. “Get some guards up in the stands for the casters,” as I call out my orders around half of the soldiers on the ground move up into the stands.

Melodiana takes up position next to my side her Claymore shining brightly in the setting sun, “I’m glad to see you made it safe.”

“We are not there yet,” I mutter, and the ghoul burst out of the wall and immediately impales two men on the spider led like appendages that it grew from its back. The men on the front line rush at it weapons raise, only to be swatted down like flies.

There is a rapid burst of Magiks on the ghoul, and when the dust settles, it has completely shed its skin, and is nothing more than black ooze running over decayed muscle and bone. Protruding from its back are four long, thin, jointed spikes.

“What is that thing?” Someone shouts fear evident in there voice.

Another person shouts, “If we can’t even hurt it, how can we kill it?”

“You are hurting it,” I shout, as I run forward and I hear Melodiana quickly following, “Target its joints and the arms on its back. It is strong but not invincible.”

Someone rallies a war cry causing them to break their paralysis and get back to moving. I take a stab at its left knee in an attempt to halt its movement before I roll back out of its reach. As i get my feet back under me i slip in between the crowd, pull my energy back into my veins, and use the people around me as cover while i search for a good opportunity to strike again. I lose track of Melodiana but it is honestly safer for her to be farther away from me right now.

The hiss of arrows flying through the sky grabs my attention for a moment and I watch as they strike at and around the ghouls eye sockets, earning us another scream of hate form it. It lashes out again taking the torso of one man from his legs, and the head of another.

The slower, less mobile members of the mob are being struck down before they even have a chance to fight, while the faster try to dance around its multiple arms.

A spray of hot blood splatters across my face and I ignore the stinging it brings to my eyes as I scoop up a severed arm with my free hand. It is still warm and I can feel the faintest pulse of energy in its veins, so i quickly overload it with my own energy. The sound of sizzling meat is followed by the scent of charring flesh and I throw the swelling appendage out of the crowd towards the ghoul.

I watch the skin tear under the pressure generated by my foriegn energy and I slink through the crowd as the ghoul predictable turns towards the approaching mass of my energy. While it is looking away I lunge back through the crowd and send a pulse of pure energy down my blade. It of course notices me and starts to turn but at the same time the arm finally gives out and a clear ripping sound rings out as a small shock wave bursts through the air. It flinches ever so slightly giving me time to bury my blade into its back but i feel it deflect off of bone and i tut and burst the energy into its abdominal cavity anyway. I retreat back into the crowd as chunks of flesh rain down around us and i hear a few gagging noises.

I move to the back of the crowd and a moment later feel another crackle of lightning as the density of energy in the air increases many fold on itself. “Get down,” I shout throwing myself out of the way, and i start to roll away as a torrent of missiles begin to strike the ghouls body throwing up an even larger cloud of dust than before.

After the ground stops shaking I get back on my feet and peer into the dust around me. I can smell heavily charred flesh over top of the grave rot. I stand at the ready, listening for sounds around me since the dust is too thick to see anything. After a brief pause of silence there is another roar from the beast followed by screaming the stops just as abruptly as it started. The world falls silent again, and I can’t hear anything moving around me in the dust.

The dust finally settles revealing the devastation to the grounds. There are massive craters where the ghoul had been previously standing, and there are a few burnt bodies that did not manage to get out of the way. A large amount of the surrounding structures are lying in ruins around us. I look around and spot Melodiana standing off to my right, and a few other people shakily standing back up.

I can’t spot the ghoul anywhere on the field either. I slowly begin to turn in place looking for it when I hear the crunch of debris on my left, and I quickly sidestep and jump backwards, but I am not quite quick enough.

I form a shell tightly around myself as an arm erupts from the debris, and catches me at its full extension. I hear a cracking sound and a sharp pain erupts from my side, turning the world around me red. I hear a scream from off to my right, and the last sensations I feel are a brief weightlessness, followed by the hard ground.

 

“Up,” I hear a frantic voice at the edge of my consciousness, “Wake up Lily.”

As my eyes flutter open I notice that I am staring at a piece of rubble on the ground, I try to take a breath and my entire side becomes raked with pain, but I ignore it to the best of my abilities and I roll up into a sitting position while I survey the world around me, “How long?” I fight the urge to vomit.

“A little over a minute,” Shiva sounds relieved as i respond.

I spot the ghoul locked in combat with three people, one being Melodiana who is swinging her Claymore around and destroying the area around her. Strangely the ghoul is backing away from her. “It’s almost as if it fears getting hit by her.” The ghoul is also lacking three of its grown arms, and its fourth is hanging limply from its back, and there are large chunks missing from its side as well.

A young woman quickly rushes over to me and begins to look me over, “You’re still alive?” She sounds geniuenly shocked at my survival.

“I’m stubbornly surviving,” I gasp past the pain.

“Well I am glad to see the blow didn’t break your sarcasm,” Shiva says and I can feel her rolling her eyes at me.

“What happened?” I ask the woman as she sits her bow down on the ground next to me.

“That last barrage burnt the rest of the casters,” she starts to explain, “I think I might be the only on that survived, and I am on the brink of exhaustion. After you were hit the Dargoth went crazy and has been beating it back ever since.” She gently touches my side and I gasp, “I think you broke most of these.”

There is a scream and I look over and one of the other two warriors drops to the ground. “Numb me,” I tell Shiva.

“Are you sure?” she asks.

“We don’t have time for anything else,” I cringe as I take another breath, “and I am worthless like this. So numb me.”

“I understand, just try not to damage your body more.”

There is another sharp pain all the way down my side followed by the feeling of nothing, and I do my best not to scream.

I stagger to my feet and scoop up the bow the woman had sat down, and she stands up and blocks my path, “You are in no condition to fight.”

I stare her down and utter “Move,” and she falls down to the ground backing away.

“You know looking like you are going to rip the soul out of something is not the best way to make friends.”

I draw the string of the bow and begin to form a transparent arrow of ice to launch. A dull pain begins to radiate from my side, and it becomes more difficult to breathe, but I continue to draw the bow to its max length. I take aim, and slowly release my breath before letting the string slip off of my fingers. As the arrow is in the air I immediately repeat the process.

The first arrow drives deep into the hip of the ghoul, and the second buries into its shoulder as it begins to swing at Melodiana. I fire a third and a fourth driving more densely made arrows into its joints before it turns towards me in what appears to be shock, but it doesn't have the opportunity to dodge as Melodiana continues her onslaught. I feel a headache starting to form around the back of my head, informing me that I am using too much energy, and my side is already throbbing again.

It shakes off its pursuers and attempts to rush towards me and I grit my teeth against the pain as I draw the string again. This time as I shape the next arrow I pour as much energy into its center as i can muster, the ice should keep it potency for this short of a flight. As I release the string slides properly, and lets the arrow loose before it snaps from the force. The arrow shrieks through the air before striking the ghoul in the chest, and then exploding. The other shards destabilize and expand and the ghoul collapses as its joints are dislocated

“What are you?” I hear whispered from my feet.

I hear rubble shift off to the side, and impossibly the axe wielding Dargoth stands from the wreckage and begins to march towards the ghoul.

The ghoul is screaming in an ancient language again from its position on the ground as Melodiana pounces on it, slamming her sword cleanly through the arm on its back before raising the blade again bringing it heavily onto the middle of its back. The Dargoth male raises his axe over his head and brings it down in a crushing blow into the back of the ghouls head spraying the black ooze across the ground silencing the ghoul.

I lower myself back onto the ground and call out from my position, “Make sure to completely dismember the body, and get it ready to burn as well.”

At the sound of my voice Melodiana runs towards me, and with tears in her eyes she quickly throws herself around me knocking the wind out of me, “I thought, when the gh-ghoul hi-hit you that ya you were da-dead.” In the background I can hear the wet sucking noise of axe into muscle, and the crack of bone under pressure.

“I ca-can’t breathe,” I manage to get out and she lets go of me looking sheepishly, after a few moments I look around the destroyed arena doing a head count, the Dargoth man is leaning against a still standing wall holding his side. There is a human, with a large gash down his arm and a bruise forming above his eye, sitting down near the remains of the ghoul. The young woman is casting fearful glances in my direction. Looking at the destruction around me I start to laugh weakly.

The Dargoth looks over and asks “Did she hit her head and break?”

“Absolutely bat shit insane,” the human pulls a broken pipe from his bag that he tosses away with a disgruntled look, “Why else would she volunteer to go down into the tunnels with that thing?”

“She’s a monster,” The woman whispers sliding herself away from me.

“Are you okay?” Melodiana asks concern in her eyes, and a bit of blood running down the side of her face.

Still laughing, even though it is the most painful thing right now, I reach up and gently wipe the blood away, “That was a very successful hunt. Congratulations everyone you can now say that you have hunted and killed a ghoul.”

“You call this successful?” The human makes a wide arc with his arm, “at least thirty people died fighting that thing.”

“Probably more like forty-one by my estimation. But against all odds five of us survived,” I call back, finally calming down, “Remember when I asked for volunteers I specifically said only sign up if you were willing to die. Three mercs surviving with so few numbers is truly a testament to the quality of fighters here.”

“Almost all of your left ribs are broken, and I think a few of your fingers are in rough shape as well,” Shiva says after finishing her check.

“I haven’t even noticed my fingers were hurt,” I laugh, then to Melodiana, “Help me up, and let’s get out of here.”

She gently supports me from my right side, and as we are walking out of the arena I reach down and pick up my sword and place it in my sheath. The Dargoth man helps the woman to her feet and, the human drops a match onto the pile of remains and they catch fire easily since there is no longer any magik strengthening them.

 

“So this caused the complete destruction of one of the gladiator rings, out of which we are still pulling bodies,” Marion sighs while rubbing her left eyebrow, “You completely froze a large section of the aqueduct, of which we are still trying to melt mind you, bursting several tubes in the process denying water to several buildings in the Market district, and you still want to be recognized?” She looks at the five of us.

“Well I don’t think a reward of some sort is out of the question,” I look around the room to avoid her gaze.

She sighs again, “We are not even including the incident of the three destroyed buildings either.”

“You can’t hold that against me forever,” I protest.

Marion sighs again, “Oh don’t puff your cheeks up.”

“You destroyed three buildings?” Markus asks.

“See you are even learning their names now,” Shiva laughs “Two days ago you didn’t even know that Dargoth.”

“I didn't destroy them,” I continue to protest, "Everyone on site agreed that it was not my fault."

“So what is it that you all want?” The Council Head asks with a shake of his head.

“And yet you still won’t ask what his name is,” Shiva sighs.

“Money is always a good reward,” Andrew says while lighting a pipe.

“New equipment isn’t a bad choice either,” Markus mentions his desire.

“A house in a better district would be nice,” Cecilia adds as she cheeks underneath her nails.

“Honor and recognition isn’t too much to ask for,” Melodiana says.

“I think a feast is in order,” I nod before adding, “With a lot of cake.”

There is a collective sigh around the room, and the Council Head speaks up, “We will see what we can arrange. You are all dismissed.”

We turn and head out into the main area, we must be a sight to see, more bandage the skin. The other three nod their goodbyes before heading their own way. Kagura is waiting in the lobby for us, as is Iris and they are discussing some Nightingale business.

I walk over towards everyone waiting on a bench gathering curious stares as we walk. Leyla walks in from somewhere up the hall as well.

Kagura nods her head before addressing me, “Don’t forget to come by tomorrow so that I can check on your ribs.”

Iris quickly speaks up, “I am capable of taking care of her at home.”

Kagura smiles while looking down on her, as if Iris were a rabbit, “Hmm, really it seems to me that you were willing to let her walk around with a broken rib.” Iris quickly shrinks away from her gaze, “Now as I was saying stop by tomorrow, sometime around lunch if you would.”

“Beatrice said that she would have a meal waiting for us when we were finished today,” Melodiana says.

“That sounds wonderful right now,” I nod my head and we begin to head there.

 

As we are on the way Melodiana and Leyla walk ahead and Iris slows down to move beside me and she begins to sheepishly say, “About the other night,”

“I told you not to worry about it,” I sigh, and continue in a quieter tone, “The others have already seen them as well so it doesn’t matter.” I add on even quieter “And I do fine as long as I’m not reminded about them.”

“It’s not just about the scars,” she sternly whispers while wrapping her arm around mine to support me, “It’s about everything else I said as well. It was rude and I over stepped my bounds, and I’m sorry, but I don’t think I was entirely wrong.” I start to say something and she stops me, “We are living together and we are friends so I want you to know that if you ever want to talk about anything I am willing to listen.”

…

…

After we walk in silence for a ways I sigh and lean more on her and say, “The reason I don’t have a last name is because the coven I was left with doesn’t have a family name to give me. A lot of Nightmares don't actually.”

"Nightmares?" she ponders and looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

"It's name we were given when we arrived on this continent," I explain, "a Succubus is a female Nightmare and an Incubus is a male Nightmare. From my understanding its because our ancestors would specialize in dream Magiks and there were rumors we devoured the good dreams to increase our own power, but that's neither here nor there."

“Left with?” she leaves the question hanging after a moment.

“Apparently there was a lot of banging at the door and when my sisters got there they found me in a basket and Mama decided to raise me as her own.”

“So you were abandoned?” she sounds a mix between irritated and sad.

“How much do you know about Kitsune culture?”

“Not much honestly, your," she pauses and coughs to correct herself, "They are quite private. I understand that some clans are friendly with the Elf’s.”

“It is generally accepted that a Kitsune born with white tails is cursed, and as such we are generally not allowed to survive.”

“T-that’s horrible, how could anyone do that?”

“It is how things have been done for two eras now,” I shrug my shoulders, “And obviously not everyone follows that tradition either.”

“And thankfully white is actually quite rare,” Shiva whispers, “And sometimes all it takes is a young girl letting a priestess go.”

“Just because that is the way it has been done doesn’t make it any less awful or stupid,” Iris complains gripping me tightly.

“Indeed, but it is quite difficult to make an entire people change their ways. Although apparently there are a few clans working at it,” as I tell her this my stomach starts to rumble.

She looks at me in slight disbelief and complains, “We can’t even have a serious conversation without you being concerned about food can we?”

“I-it’s not my fault,” I blush at my stomachs betrayal, “When I’m hungry, I’m hungry, and there is no changing that.”

“I suppose it can’t be helped,” She rolls her eyes, “At least we will be at Beatrice’s before too long.”

“Should I carry you again,” Melodiana calls back over her shoulder, “We will get there faster.”

“You shall do no such thing with those injuries,” Iris calls back at her, “I will not have you tearing any stitches or dropping her either.”

“Then perhaps I should,” Leyla calls back jokingly, “She surely can’t weigh so much that a blacksmith would have problems.”

“It makes you happy that you have people that care about you doesn’t it,” Shiva tauntingly whispers.

“Shut up,” I shoot back as her as Iris continues to argue with the others as we walk onward.