Dawn nodded at Niphru’s suggestion to practice together, letting him back down, then heading back to the center of the cleared ground. Niphru focused on the bond between them, deepening it as much as he could while he connected a strand of mana to Dawn to form his link as well. As Dawn began to create the circle of fire again, he focused on the thoughts coming through the link.
Trying it himself, he found it didn’t work as intended, but instead a ring of flame expanded out from his foxfire instead. Following along with Dawn, he did manage to condense it into balls of flame, though only four of them, unlike the dozen she managed. Following along with her motions, he found it significantly harder to redirect the flames sharply than he expected. He watched Dawn reverse direction in an instant, but he had to slow them down before accelerating them again.
Focusing more on the bond, he felt Dawn was manipulating the composition of the flame, and opening small gaps in her control. Attempting the same, he saw his orbs of flame shoot out jets of fire from the side before instantly changing direction as well, though with far less control. Looking back at Dawn’s work, he couldn’t spot any jets of flame, so she had to be far more skilled at it, he mused. Intending to try something different, he formed several more orbs of flame until he had a dozen as well, then tried to split them, doubling them and making them even smaller. Focusing his full will on them, he managed to compress each into a tiny speck of flame, watching it shift colors from orange into blue.
Dawn noticed the change and stopped her practice to watch Niphru, letting her flames idly spin around her. Arranging the tiny specks of flame, Niphru began speeding them up in a ring until they blurred together into a roaring and blindingly bright circle. Judging it was fast enough, he launched the whole ring at once into the distance. Surprisingly, the flames continued to circle as they sped off, up until they hit the ground.
With a bright flash, the ring slammed into the ground and vanished from sight, leaving behind a glassy gash in the ground as a hissing noise replaced the roaring. Dawn gaped at the sight, then followed Niphru as he ran towards the gouge in the dirt.
Arriving at the impact site, Niphru lowered his head to be in line with the gouge, peering into it. It appeared deep enough that he couldn’t see the end with the small amount of sunlight making it in. As Dawn reached him, he had begun digging out the glassy dirt, and she joined in with him. A moment later, they found that nearly a foot of dirt had been burned by the flame. Less distracted, Niphru noticed how low on mana he was from that trick, and followed Amilya’s instructions on how to draw power from the mana stones, finding it quite easy.
Shocked by the power, Dawn tried it herself, splitting her flames in half, but she struggled to compress them, instead causing several of them to burst into puffs of flame. Sighing, she turned to Niphru and remarked, “That was really cool, Niphru, it seems we both have things we can do that the other can’t. Do you think it will cause any problems in the fight? I’m really worried.”
Niphru rubbed his head against her leg before reassuring her, “Well, we are different people, so it isn’t too surprising we have different skills. I don’t think it will be a problem as long as we let everyone know what we can do. And I’m worried too, Norman said this was my fault, and in a way it is.”
Dawn shook her head before throwing her remaining flames into the ground nearby, then crouched down and hugged Niphru as she scratched his head. Sighing, she told him, “I don’t think it is your fault at all, you were just unlucky and had people chase you and they screwed up. How about we go back home and get some rest? Maybe you will feel better then.”
Niphru thought for a moment, then nodded his head in agreement. In response, Dawn picked him up and headed back towards the gate. As they arrived back at home, they saw Amilya meeting with a number of apparently random villagers, handing out small pouches of mana stones to them with the same explanation they had been given. Waiting for a lull in the conversation, Dawn spoke to her mother, “I’m going to try to get some rest before the ants get here, we both found a few more tricks for when the time comes.”
Amilya nodded, waving her on, before returning her focus to the others. Seeing that her mother didn’t disagree, Dawn headed back to her room, putting Niphru on the floor beside the bed. As Niphru stretched, Dawn began removing her clothes, before putting on her sleepwear. She crawled into bed, then waited a moment as Niphru jumped up and curled up beside her.
Dawn pet Niphru for a few moments before they both focused on trying to sleep, ignoring the voices from the other room. After a while of peaceful rest, the nightmare began again. Niphru screamed inside his mind as he saw Dawn buried in ants as they tore at her flesh, unable to do anything to stop them.
He awoke suddenly, finding himself disoriented and pressed up against something soft. As he shook and whined, his awareness came back to him, and he found himself being hugged tightly to Dawn’s chest as she cried into his fur. Belatedly, he realized he never cut the link between them before going to sleep, and had been sharing his thoughts through the link. Feeling even worse, having shared his nightmare with Dawn, he found he couldn’t stop shaking.
Eventually Dawn recovered, squeezing him even tighter for a moment before sitting up and putting him in her lap. As she stroked his head, she questioned, “Have you been having this nightmare often? I can’t imagine that…”
Niphru barely managed to nod his head, still whimpering, and tried to burrow into the covers. Dawn sobbed for a moment before reassuring him, “There is no way that will happen, Niphru, I’m going to stay safe, and you will be able to protect me! I won’t even leave the wall to make sure I’m as far away from them as possible!”
After about half an hour of huddling together, the two felt less fearful and returned to trying to rest, though it took quite a while to fall asleep. Fortunately, the nightmare did not return before they were awakened by Amilya knocking on the door. As they started to get up, making noise, Amilya stated, “It is time to get ready, the scouts say the ants will be here shortly. Meet everyone at the eastern gate.”
Dawn began getting dressed as Niphru stretched, then she opened the door and they began making their way to the gate in the gloom of dusk. Upon arriving, they saw most of the town gathered there, with the warriors of the Church of Conflict already heading outside the gate, and guards going up the walkway along the wall, heading towards the south. Listening to Amilya speak, they learned that the plan was for those with magic to attempt to thin out the denser parts of the swarm while letting those without clean up the stragglers. The farmers were expected to be able to hold the farms on their own, especially as the majority of the ants were heading towards the south-eastern section of the village.
As they headed up to join the guards on the wall, children ran past carrying stones for slings, and a few brought arrows wrapped in cloth. Standing atop the wall, they could see firebreaks stretching out to the south and west, with lines of wood chips laid out across the field. The warriors from the Church of Conflict arranged themselves behind the lines, each armed with two clubs, and all covered almost completely in armor, at most having exposed hands and heads, even those being uncommon.
Impressive spread. It makes you think these people have done this before, yet promotes that sense of gravity. Everything is being placed on the line, and they say they still have plans in the event they need to evacuate?
It has indeed happened before. Most of the time, when insects become twisted, it is deeper into the wilderness, where other mutated creatures can easily deal with them. The few times it happens near inhabited areas, it is a disaster, and over time they have learned how to deal with it. Mainly, you get the children and those with weaker bodies ready to flee, they gather at the far side of the village, and collect what supplies and valuables they can. Meanwhile, those with stronger bodies man the walls until they get overwhelmed, then do a fighting retreat back to the rest as they leave. The village is lost, but the majority of the people survive.
Whoops, just realized this is before the end, so had to delete a whole mess of stuff that is technically spoilers at this point. But yeah, it isn't exactly common, but it has happened enough for it to be known and planned for. In this case, the situation is different, as most villages don't have as many mages, nor are they as good at area attacks.