CHAPTER 193: BATTLE FIELD

[ Old World – Greater Woods... continued ]

"Behind me," Thorgar snarled, shoving Autumn behind his broad back, his shoulders widening with the stirrings of a shift he barely held back.

He moved before Autumn could understand.

His hand reached for the heavy axe on his back...the haft wrapped in old leather, marked with runes Autumn couldn’t read... the one that hung in his private study ( aka cave like chamber)

The mist still danced around them, curling around their ankles and arms.

A scream echoed. That same dolphin like howl.

Autumn’s breath hitched. "Father, what is that thing?"

"Stay behind me," Thorgar repeated, voice low but thunderous with warning. "Don’t speak unless I tell you to. Don’t move unless I say so."

The ’thing’ moved in the mist. Fast. Heavy. Getting bigger... as if matching Thorgar’s stature.

Thorgar let out a growl that was more vicious than any wolfish howl Autumn had ever heard...stepping forward...raising his axe.

The next second, the creature lunged...something blacker than black, a flash of gleaming limbs, no face she could see clearer now...just movement...super fast.

Thorgar twisted, slammed the axe down mid air. The metal clanged as it struck something solid, followed by a howling hiss as the shadow reeled back.

"I saw it!" Autumn cried.

"So did I," Thorgar muttered. "It bleeds... that means it can die."

He chased the blur into the mist, boots pounding over roots and mud, axe swinging. Autumn could barely see him anymore. Only the thuds, the sharp grunts, the whirl of air and sound told her the battle was only getting intense.

She could hear everything...claws scraping bark, heavy limbs stomping, something clicking like teeth...but too many of them.

And then came the shriek.

It rattled her ribs and nearly brought her to her knees. Mist blasted outward as the creature came back.Stronger. Bigger.

"No," Autumn whispered, eyes searching wildly for her father. "No, no, no...FATHER...Father, where are you? "

Thorgar reeled back, landing hard against a tree trunk. His axe clattered to the ground. Blood trickled from his lip, and deep claw marks tore through his vest.

"Father!" she screamed again, and without thinking, she sprinted forward.

Thorgar’s hand snapped out, catching her by the waist and spinning her behind him again. " What did I tell you? Don’t speak until I tell you. Don’t move until I say so! You will not throw yourself at death’s jaw. Not on my watch, sweet pea...your father is still alive and kicking..."

"But,Father...you are injured..."

"I said no, Autumn! Besides...these scratches are nothing...they don’t even itch..." His voice cracked like thunder. "You must learn when to run, before you know when to strike, if you want to win any battle in life! "

The mist churned. The creature hissed again, closer now. As if testing...

Autumn trembled, watching as Thorgar lifted his axe again with both hands, chest heaving. His breath steamed into the cold. His eyes glowed faintly...his wolf just beneath the skin.

"I will hold it off," he said without looking back. "You find a way out...it’s getting bad,sweet pea...even the trees are watching."

"What does that mean..."

"GO!"

Autumn flinched. She took one step back. Then another.

But she didn’t run.

She couldn’t...not yet. Not when she saw her father plant his feet like stone and face the mist.

The thing rushed again, and this time, she saw it had morphed...dozens of limbs, or maybe none at all.A mouth that opened sideways, if it was a mouth. It didn’t make sense.

Thorgar roared and charged, axe meeting shadow. Metal bit flesh. Mist exploded.

Autumn’s heart screamed in her throat as the two collided and vanished into the fog again.

"Father!" she cried one last time...before the silence swallowed her.

Her boots sunk into the damp undergrowth as she tore through the thickening mist, eyes straining to make sense of the silhouettes moving too fast,up ahead.

The trees had vanished behind her, swallowed whole by the mist, and all she had to guide her now were the echoes of snarls, and the glint of her father’s battle axe slashing through the unknown.

"Father!" she screamed again with utter disregard for her father’s warning, her voice smothered instantly by the mist.

No answer.

But then...clang...a violent, guttural roar answered instead.

Autumn pushed harder, weaving between twisted roots and the shadows that crept along the forest floor. Finally, she burst into a small clearing of sorts...an illusion, really, a small pocket where the mist had pulled back just enough to reveal the chaos unfolding.

Thorgar was already on one knee, blood streaming down his left shoulder where something had slashed through his shoulder blade.

His chest rose and fell in massive gasps, and yet his eyes were wild, alight with fury. His axe came around again with a crack of bone and spark of light as it struck...something.

But even now, she still couldn’t see the creature properly. It shimmered, flickered...Each time Thorgar landed a hit, it convulsed, shrieked, but then flowed back into shape like spilled oil reforming in water.

"Stay back!" Thorgar bellowed without looking at her, voice raw. "Autumn! Go! I said get away,girl..."

"I won’t leave you!" she cried, stepping forward despite herself.

The thing lunged again. Thorgar swung his axe up in time, but the force knocked him backward, crashing into a tree. The impact split bark like bone.

"Father, watch out!" Autumn screamed, racing towards him...but a shape cut her off.

The creature stood there, between them...tall and undulating like smoke caught in wind, no clear limbs...only hints of faces, memories.

Her breath caught in her throat. Her knees wanted to buckle.

It didn’t move like any beast. It moved like a cursed soul.

She summoned what strength she had, reaching for the dagger she kept strapped behind her back. "Get away from him!" she shouted, voice breaking.

But Thorgar, rising with blood smeared across his jaw, slammed his axe into the ground and roared, "NO! You are NOT ready! This thing...this thing is older than you can imagine! It’s not meant for your blade, Autumn!"

The creature turned to her. The mist around it shivered.

Her fingers trembled, but she didn’t back down.

"Then teach me now," she whispered, eyes locked on the void like creature, "or we both die here." She could tell the mist was draining both her and her father’s strength... sucking it out of their bodies...

The wind moaned around them. The mist curled tighter. And the creature... lunged again.

Thorgar barked out a laugh, even as his axe sang through the air and cleaved into one of the creature’s rising limbs.

"You are trying to learn battle etiquette now, Autumn?" he huffed, throwing a quick glance over his shoulder at her. "You have got awful timing for life lessons, girl!"

Autumn cracked a breathless smile despite the tension. "You are the one who said battlefields are the best classrooms!"

"Aye," he smirked, tightening his grip on the haft of his weapon, "but not during the exam!"

He shoved her lightly aside with the butt of his axe as another strike came flying from the creature. "Now move, little hawk. This is not your fight yet."

Autumn stumbled back a few paces, but her eyes stayed fixed on the creature...or more specifically, on the growing mist that lapped around their feet and spiraled unnaturally up Thorgar’s shins. Her chest tightened.

"Father," she said, voice low.

Thorgar grunted, chopping another shadowy limb. "I know."

"It’s draining us." Her breath hitched. "You are getting slower."

Thorgar paused mid swing, eyes narrowing. He looked down at his arms, his skin glistening not with sweat, but with a fine sheen of pale frost...energy sapped, muscle trembled.

"Well, damn the Moon," he growled. "You are right."

Before he could say another word, a blur of motion burst from the edge of the clearing...absolutely unhinged.

"RAAAAAHHHHH!"

Velor!!!

He came charging like a loose boulder tumbling down a cliff...eyes wild, limbs flailing. But instead of aiming for the mist creature, he lunged directly at Thorgar, snarling incomprehensibly, words foaming from his mouth...something like broken curses.

Thorgar turned in time to catch the brunt of it. "By my beard...what the...?!"

He wrestled Velor to the side, barely flinching despite the madness in the guy’s eyes.

"Get off me, idiot!" Thorgar bellowed. "There’s a monster right there!"

But Velor only screamed louder, clawing at Thorgar’s chest as if possessed, eyes unfocused, like he wasn’t even seeing him.

" Guess, I will have to end this," Thorgar muttered, lifting his arm to strike.

"NO!" Autumn’s voice pierced through.

She jumped between them, hands splayed, chest rising and falling with urgency. "Don’t hurt him, please. He’s not... he’s not in control!"

Thorgar’s brows snapped together. "He just attacked me, Autumn."

"I know," she said quickly, glancing at Velor who had collapsed into the mist, twitching, lips moving in silent terror. "But look at him. He’s caught in something... some kind of loop. A mental trap. The mist...maybe it’s not just draining power. It’s confusing us. Turning us on each other."

Thorgar hesitated, his axe still half raised. Then his eyes fell to Autumn...searching.

"You are thinking like...," he muttered. "Too much heart. Too much trust."

She nodded once. "Maybe. But sometimes it saves people."

He grunted and lowered his weapon, stepping back.

It was a fatal second.

The creature had been waiting.

From the swirling center of the mist, it surged forward with a screech, its form distorting into something jagged and serpentine...eyes glowing with void light. It struck with a velocity that split the fog behind it.

Aimed directly... at Autumn.

Everything slowed.

Thorgar turned, too far away now. "AUTUMN!"

Velor blinked up, still dazed, unable to move.

The blow was seconds less from landing.

Autumn stood frozen in its path, heart stilled, body slack with disbelief.

This was it.

No time left.

No options.

And then...

A blur. A breath. A flash of black.

Kieran!!! Damn.

He lunged from the side like a meteor, arms closing around her waist just as the creature’s attack struck. The impact threw them both back...spinning through the air like broken leaves.

They hit the ground hard. Rolled. Once. Twice.

Then...stillness.

Autumn lay on her side, gasping.

"Kieran...?" she screamed, barely daring to breathe.

No answer.

She pushed herself up, the world tilting sideways.

"KIERAN!!!!"

She crawled up on him, her palms scraping against sharp stones, mist clinging to her skin but she registered nothing.

He lay on his back, motionless, eyes half shut.

"Kieran...wake up!LOOK AT ME" she whispered, slapping his cheek, voice cracking. "Come on. Please!"

But he didn’t move.

Not even a flicker.

Autumn’s breath caught in her throat. The mist thickened again, coiling around them... STRANGLING...