20 Days Ago.

The serpents were already ready as they vomited out flesh from their mouths, regurgitating their own defenses to satiate the wave of flames.

But that was not the end, I rushed in. While I knew I wasn’t as smart or clever as Peter or Marian, I knew that if your opponent is trying to block or defend against your attack, it means they have a reason, and that reason is usually that if it hits, then the attack would be able to damage or kill them.

So I dashed across the floor, sliding on the ground as I readied a flaming kick towards one of the giant serpents.

However, as I got through the smoke, I was met instead by dozens of shambling corpses. They looked like ghouls, but they were bleeding, they were groaning, they were making sounds, and while their bodies were filled with wounds, they were all slowly closing, healing almost.

“What the fuck-“ Is all I could get out as my kick went and completely incinerated the part of the ghoul that the flames touched, torching half of their face as they fell down, dead again.

I turned to where I last saw the serpents, and they were a noticeable distance away, slithering across the field as they ate the bones and body parts that were scattered across the field of dead grass.

One of them vomited out the skull of what I assumed was a cow, cause it’s what I saw in those Western desert sets. Immediately as it hit the ground, flesh muscles and flesh began to grow on it, morphing into a house-sized cow-like creature with antlers as sharp as swords on its head.

“Oh, okay, so you’re all necromancers?! That’s… Actually.” I kinda remembered the others talking about how the Skiper was the master in the Nawia, so I guess it made sense that his minions are all like, necromancer.

Well, that was of no worry to me. I slammed my hand on the monster’s head, and in one burst of fire, completely incinerated the beast, reducing it to absolutely nothing.

Behind me, I could see many of the ghouls were starting to completely… I wanna say humanfy. They had no wounds on their skin and held weapons such as swords and spears.

Without any warning, they rushed towards me, attempting to slash and stab me. Instantly, they were met with flames shooting out of my body, parrying away their weapons, disintegrating them in contact.

“Yeah, after Marian, I’m not taking any chances.” I let the aura of my flames erupt all around me, consuming the rest of these ghouls and the ground beneath me, creating a strange spot on the ground where a layer of dirt was missing.

One of the serpents decided on a different course of action, slithering their way closer to me before opening their mouth and shooting venom from their fangs. I raised my flames, meeting them in the air, and as they touched, a massive explosion erupted, creating violent streams of droplets that shot out like fragments from a grenade.

All across the battlefield, they hit, vaporizing whatever they touched. They even hit me, splattering all across my body like molten iron. It was painful, like getting shot multiple times over, while I felt immensely painful memories of when I was tortured resurface across my body.

I lost focus for a second, taking a knee. I tried to catch my breath, but that was a mistake. The ground underneath me shook, breaking apart as I fell through with the dirt. I looked up, finding the serpents tossing in several of their summons onto me while shoveling dirt with their tails, burying me alive.

I refused to go out in such a way, but my mind was still so dull with pain that I could barely do anything at all as I was buried alive in the earth and stone, my body being crushed and compacted as I could feel the rocks scrape off my flesh and my bones tensing up, almost breaking apart.

It was dark. It was blurry, I felt like I needed to both throw up and cry as my mind rushed to when Epithet would bury me alive. They tried to test out how long someone like me could live, how long someone could survive if they could.

I remember the coffin they placed me in. They drugged me so that I would wake up in it. I managed to claw and dig myself up in the dirt in an hour. My nails bled, and my fingers were showing bones at that point.

Will it be the same here? Could it be the same here? No, I’m a changed woman. Never again would I allow myself to be used like this. To be downed like this. I reached out, focusing on all that pain and misery, even the one forced upon me by the blowback of my ability.

My flames returned, placing my hands on the earth, crushing me. I then blasted as hard as I could, completely decimating my dirt tomb as I took in a deep breath, finally back in the morning air.

However, my return was greeted with even more pain as quickly, the serpents around me sprayed their venom once more. Instead of meeting it head-on or countering it, I had to duck and dodge, carefully timing my own fire blasts to help me move out of the way as I made my way over to Charlie and Koschei, who were managing to hold off one of the serpents by themselves.

Albeit, it was mostly Koschei fending them off while Charlie was just doing support fire. I was kinda amazed at how well Koschei fought. I knew he was fighting those weird guys with Peter while I was duking it out with Marian, but holy shit, is he actually kinda crazy?

He weaved through each summon, using his black daggers, he slashed through their necks, beheading each and every one with ease. He then threw one of them into the serpent, who managed to carefully slap it aside and embed it into a nearby stone.

However, he jumped onto its back, about to stab it, when the serpent simply coiled and rolled around him, using the tip of its tail to disarm him before opening its mouth to bite down.

But, just in time, I poked the serpent by its tail, causing it to face me with a look I can only hope was surprise before I raised my hand, completely and utterly blasting the giant reptile with my flames like a jet.

In that moment, the serpent was completely cooked, its upper body completely vaporized as it slumped over, dead.

I turned around, finding the other serpents burrowing their way underground. I braced myself for an ambush, yet it never seemed to come.

Quickly, I made it over to Charlie, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her to my side as I inspected every inch of her the best I could. “Are you okay? Were you hurt?”

“No. I’m fine, thanks for asking. It’s you who I should be worried about. Look at what happened.”

I stared down at my body. Yeah, the burial really did a number on me, but adrenaline kept on numbing me up. “I-I’ll be fine for now. But it’s good to know everyone is okay.”

“Yes, and it’s good to know that Baba Kira hasn’t been killed, merely captured.” Koschei said as he stared out into the circular valley in the distance.

“Wait, how do you know that?” I asked as he held Charlie close.

“Because I asked, and they answered. They took her away to try and have her aid in their cause of reviving Skiper-Weles. The Lord of the Underworld.”

I sighed. Getting into the trouble here was well, troublesome, but it looks like we might be roped in. “Did she leave her boots here at least?” I checked around in the rubble, trying to find anything of note that could be of use.

One thing that caught notice was a broken-down tray of potions to the side. I saw this wonderful little box full of Health Potions, and immediately I lunged towards it like a wild animal as I already felt my adrenaline wear off and the pain seeping in. Without any hesitation, I uncorked a Health Potion and drank it all down. Already, I could feel my wounds closing up as I took in a deep breath.

“Nope, nothing. It’s either with her or destroyed.” Charlie’s voice broke me out of my short-term bliss as she and Koschei rummaged through the debris.

I groaned out loud and rubbed my face with the bottle as if it were a beer can. “Man… Of course it’s never going to be that simple.” I looked over to the ominous valley that seemed to shake in the distance.

“So like, they’re over there, right? And the only person who could make another pair would be her?”

Koschei nodded grimly as he began to think for a moment. “Perhaps, there is another force we can ask. However, it requires us to join with a quite… Not so malevolent but rather unpredictable force of-”

“Faeries… It’s Faeries, isn’t it?” I stared at Koschei, my entire face deadpan as I realized what he was referring to.

“You had experiences with them?”

“Yeah… Well, I had experience in some of them, like Elves, Pixies, Mazzikin, Sprites- Yadda yadda. Some of them are helpful, but really, I kinda think they’re annoying and worst of all, pedantic. They’re the worst kind of pedantic, they know the spirit of the word, but then go to follow the uh…”

I scratched my cheek trying to find the proper word for it. “The letter of it. They follow the letter of the word, yeah, that’s right. But they make for great lawyers, and I used to know one. Almost needed them too…” I looked away, shoving the memories of my past life away from my head.

I never needed them. I won’t need them. They abused the system; I will correct it.

“I used to serve under a few elves.” Charlie sat beside me as she looked down at the rubble. “There was either this thousand-yard stare they had in their eyes, always speaking softly, or… They would be complete nut jobs and tell us how to mess around as much as possible.”

She laughed a little, which warmed my heart. I wish I could hear her laugh like this more. “As for the other types… I only saw them with rich families and top mage association types. That and when dealing with security in other nations.”

Koschei narrowed his eyes with curiosity. “Oh? Well, here, they are the guardians of nature, and in past times, the guardians of many villages before the Thousand Night War and Eternal Storm came and blew everything away. Now they roam around aimlessly without a care left in this world… But alas, I think now with all that has been done, they would be needed for the upcoming battle.”

“Maybe they can go and get us to the Firebird as fast as possible if Kira and her boots aren’t viable enough.”

“Perhaps.” Koschei smiled and looked ahead at the valley. “Are you willing to journey and take that chance?”

I gave a shrug and turned to Charlie, waiting for her own response.

“As long as it’s not far away from the possible destination of where Baba Kira could be, then a detour like that would be quite useful.”

“It’s actually on the way there. There’s a small patch of land there with a Fae Circle. Come, allow me to guide you both.”